as in unwillingness
a lack of willingness or desire to do or accept something
the mice showed an odd reluctance to eat the cheese we had put out for them
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of reluctance
The reason for my reluctance is her poor kitchen hygiene.
—
Abigail Van Buren, Boston Herald, 30 Mar. 2025
And that reluctance and confusion arises, in part, because of just how random the death penalty can be.
—Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 29 Mar. 2025
President Donald Trump called for Maine Gov. Janet Mills to apologize to him over her state's reluctance to follow his executive order to ban trans athletes from girls sports over the weekend, and Mills has now responded without an apology.
—Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 25 Mar. 2025
The only remotely realistic thing about the episode is the son’s reluctance to consent.
—Samuel Ashworth, The Atlantic, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for reluctance
Abigail Van Buren, Boston Herald, 30 Mar. 2025
And that reluctance and confusion arises, in part, because of just how random the death penalty can be.
—Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, 29 Mar. 2025
President Donald Trump called for Maine Gov. Janet Mills to apologize to him over her state's reluctance to follow his executive order to ban trans athletes from girls sports over the weekend, and Mills has now responded without an apology.
—Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 25 Mar. 2025
The only remotely realistic thing about the episode is the son’s reluctance to consent.
—Samuel Ashworth, The Atlantic, 20 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for reluctance
Recent Examples of Synonyms for reluctance
Noun
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At least one legislator expressed hesitancy during a Senate committee vote Wednesday about the legislation’s expansive footprint.—
Christine Condon,
Baltimore Sun,
30 Mar. 2025
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Concerns about data quality, compliance and the rapid pace of AI advancements have created hesitancy, particularly when AI is hastily deployed into customer-facing applications.—
Sumit Johar,
Forbes.com,
26 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Political uncertainty historically leads to consumer reticence—a reluctance to buy and an impulse to hoard savings.—
Corey Buhay,
Outside Online,
24 Mar. 2025
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The problem is the school’s reticence to accept transfers at large scale and lack of desire to play the NIL game.—
Jon Wilner,
Mercury News,
28 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Some Republican lawmakers have already expressed hesitance about removing the governor’s executive authority over immigration enforcement.—
Ana Ceballos,
Miami Herald,
27 Jan. 2025
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One attorney contacted by the Bay Area News Group expressed hesitance about whether their client was explicitly covered.—
Caelyn Pender,
The Mercury News,
21 Jan. 2025
Noun
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On Sunday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. met with the families of two girls who had died from measles in West Texas—and raised doubts about the safety of vaccines.—
Tom Bartlett,
The Atlantic,
10 Apr. 2025
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Some of the Supreme Court’s conservatives have cast doubts about the precedent in recent years.—
Zach Schonfeld,
The Hill,
9 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Its weakness is an intermittent lack of vulnerability and an occasional disinclination to leave all of that behind and pull out individual characters who have figured out that their travails flow from the difficulty of stopping American family life from turning into a Sam Shepard play.—
Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Feb. 2025
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On the contrary, these works form a trail of historical and imagined personalities, full of desires and disinclinations that misalign.—
Rachel Vorona Cote,
The Atlantic,
19 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Issues related to social justice, politics, sustainability, and mental health regularly intersect with entertainment stories, placing celebrities under pressure to publicly take stances on divisive topics, often without room for error or hesitation.—
Ethan Stone,
USA Today,
4 Apr. 2025
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Consumer Confidence Is Still in Retreat Even as prices have started to ease, consumer hesitation lingers.—
Stephanie Gravalese,
Forbes.com,
1 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Reluctance.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/reluctance. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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