unwilling

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ willing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈwɪlɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlɪŋ

Adjective

unwilling (comparative more unwilling, superlative most unwilling)

1. Not willing; reluctant

   an unwilling servant

   We are unwilling to restore his previous privileges after his betrayal of our trust.

   • 1948 January and February, “British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 1:

     There was a prevailing fear of the effect of large undertakings becoming monopolistic, and Parliament showed itself unwilling to sanction any large groupings.

   • 1960 March, “Motive Power Miscellany: Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 184:

     [...] but in the damp conditions prevailing the driver sensibly was unwilling to attempt the climb up through Combe Down tunnel without help, for fear of slipping to a standstill in the unventilated bore, [...].

   • 2024 September 4, Vitali Vitaliev, “A salute to Ukraine's 'Second Army'”, in RAIL, number 1017, page 49:

     My son, a Canada-based IT professional who often travels to Ukraine, told me about the exhilarating atmosphere on those Ukraine-bound trains, bringing home hundreds of the unwilling refugees, mostly women and children (including the babies, born in exile on the way to meet their Ukrainian fighter fathers for the first time). The difference between Ukrainian refugees and other reluctant exiles is that Ukrainians are desperate to return.

Derived terms

• unwillingly (adverb)

Translations

not willing; reluctant

• Bulgarian: неохотен (bg) (neohoten)
• Catalan: reaci
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不情願／不情愿 (bù qíngyuàn)

• Czech: neochotný (cs) m
• Finnish: haluton (fi), vastahakoinen (fi)
• French: réticent (fr)
• German: unwillig (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἄκων (ákōn)

• Irish: drogallach
• Latin: invītus
• Manx: neuaignagh, neuarryltagh, neuwooiagh
• Maori: ngākaukore, whakatohetohe, horokukū, whakawhēuaua, korongata, manawapā, horokukū, kōroiroi
• Persian: بی‌میل (bi-meyl)
• Polish: niechętny (pl), niełatwy (pl), nieskłonny
• Portuguese: indisposto
• Russian: нерасполо́женный (ru) (neraspolóžennyj), нескло́нный (ru) (nesklónnyj), неохо́тный (ru) (neoxótnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: aindeònach, leisg
• Spanish: involuntario (es), reticente (es), indispuesto (es), renitente (es), non dispuesto, non voluntarioso, imprestable (es)
• Turkish: gönülsüz (tr), isteksiz (tr), hevessiz (tr)