Reluctant

How to spell reluctant

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce reluctant

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does reluctant mean?

1. adjectiveUnwilling to do something and therefore hesitant or slow to act.

Reluctant in a sentence

• He was reluctant to sign the contract before reading every clause.

• The manager seemed reluctant to approve any extra spending this quarter.

Where does reluctant come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin reluctantem, the present participle of the verb reluctari, which meant 'to struggle or fight against' something. It was built from the prefix re-, here carrying the sense of 'against' or 'back', joined to luctari, meaning 'to wrestle' or 'to struggle'. That same wrestling root sits behind the rarer English word 'reluctate' and is a cousin of words tied to physical contest. English adopted reluctant in the seventeenth century, at first describing someone who actively resisted or strove against a thing, and the meaning softened over time into the modern sense of being merely unwilling or hesitant. The buried luct spelling, which English speakers rarely meet on its own, is what makes the inner 'ct' easy to slur in writing.

How the word is built

• re- (against, back)
• luct (from Latin luctari: to struggle, wrestle)
• -ant (adjective suffix)