Standard Lemma guide

reluctantly

adv · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ɹɪˈlʌktəntli/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: R IH0 L AH1 K T AH0 N T L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adv

Meaning 1

In a reluctant or hesitant manner.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adverb

Meaning 2

with reluctance

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English reluctant Middle English -ly English -ly English reluctantly From reluctant + -ly.

Across languages

Translations

38 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Azerbaijani: könülsüz — in a reluctant manner
  • Azerbaijani: həvəssiz — in a reluctant manner
  • Chinese Mandarin: 勉強 /勉强 (miǎnqiǎng) — in a reluctant manner
  • Czech: váhavě — in a reluctant manner
  • Dutch: met tegenzin — in a reluctant manner
  • Finnish: vastahakoisesti — in a reluctant manner
  • French: à contrecœur — in a reluctant manner
  • German: ungern — in a reluctant manner
  • Greek: διστακτικά (distaktiká) — in a reluctant manner
  • Hindi: अनिच्छापूर्वक (anicchāpūrvak) — in a reluctant manner
  • Hindi: हिचकते हुए (hicakte hue) — in a reluctant manner
  • Hindi: झिझकते हुए (jhijhakte hue) — in a reluctant manner
  • Hindi: अनिच्छा से (anicchā se) — in a reluctant manner
  • Hungarian: kelletlenül — in a reluctant manner
  • Hungarian: vonakodva — in a reluctant manner
  • Hungarian: ódzkodva — in a reluctant manner
  • Hungarian: húzódozva — in a reluctant manner
  • Italian: svogliatamente — in a reluctant manner
  • Italian: di malavoglia — in a reluctant manner
  • Italian: malvolentieri — in a reluctant manner
  • Italian: senza alcun interesse — in a reluctant manner
  • Italian: con riluttanza — in a reluctant manner
  • Japanese: しぶしぶ (shibushibu) — in a reluctant manner
  • Japanese: 否々乍ら (iyaiya-nagara) — in a reluctant manner
  • Korean: 마지못해 (majimothae) — in a reluctant manner
  • Navajo: tʼáá tiʼída — in a reluctant manner
  • Norwegian: uviljug — in a reluctant manner
  • Plautdietsch: onnood — in a reluctant manner
  • Polish: niechętnie — in a reluctant manner
  • Portuguese: relutantemente — in a reluctant manner
  • Russian: неохо́тно (neoxótno) — in a reluctant manner
  • Russian: с неохо́той (s neoxótoj) — in a reluctant manner
  • Spanish: con renuencia — in a reluctant manner
  • Spanish: renuentemente — in a reluctant manner
  • Spanish: reaciamente — in a reluctant manner
  • Spanish: reluctantemente — in a reluctant manner
  • Spanish: reticentemente — in a reluctant manner
  • Ukrainian: неохоче (neoxoče) — in a reluctant manner
Real reading context

reluctantly in complete knowledge articles