Reluctant

If the adjective reluctant applies to you, it means that you are undergoing some inner struggle and are unwilling or unable to decide.

  • Pronunciation: /rɪ'lʌktənt/
  • English Description: lacking interest or spirit or animation
  • Chinese Translation: 不情愿的(bu4 qing2 yuan4 de)
  • Spanish Translation: renuente
  • STORY: The word reluctant comes from the Latin reluctantem, which means "to struggle against." These days reluctantmeans “unwilling.” If you’re reluctant to dance to a terrible song, you’re unwilling to shake your booty, and you might even have to struggle against your friends who try to get you on the dance floor. You might offer them a reluctant smile instead (and hope it doesn’t look like a grimace).

EXAMPLE SENTENCE:

  • With much better data arriving soon, the scientists were reluctant to speculate.
  • But even there, she seems reluctant to look for solutions that are outside of the mainstream Democratic canon.

*New word description, story and part of "EXAMPLE SENTENCE" are cited in Vocabulary.com