reluctance
pronunciation
How to pronounce reluctance in British English:
UK [rɪ'lʌktəns]
How to pronounce reluctance in American English:
US [rɪˈlʌktəns]
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- Noun:
- (physics) opposition to magnetic flux (analogous to electric resistance)
- a certain degree of unwillingness
Word Origin
- reluctance (n.)
- 1640s, "act of struggling against," from obsolete verb reluct "to struggle or rebel against" (1520s), from Latin reluctari "to struggle against, resist, make opposition," from re- "against" (see re-) + luctari "to struggle, wrestle," perhaps shares a common origin with Greek lygos "pliant twig," lygizein "to bend, twist," Old English locc "twist of hair" (see lock (n.2)). Meaning "unwillingness" is first attested 1660s. Related: Reluctancy (1620s.).
Example
- 1. But his reluctance is also a question of generations .
- 2. At america 's insistence and in the face of european reluctance , it was incorporated into the kyoto protocol .
- 3. Reluctance motors still have disadvantages , even now that the control problem has been solved .
- 4. Is this down to a reluctance to lend , or to borrow ?
- 5. There is also a reluctance to borrow .