How to Use reluctance in a Sentence

reluctance

noun
Definition of reluctancenext
Synonyms for reluctancenext
  • This—the self-doubt, the reluctance to be direct—is my first clue that something is not right.
    — Anna Holmes, The New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2024
  • Hall has expressed reluctance to ask the team’s best fans, the ones who attend games, to pay even more.
    — Kent Somers, The Arizona Republic, 19 Aug. 2022
  • And in that reluctance to yield to darkness lay perhaps the promise of spring.
    — Martin Weil, Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2023
  • Would there be reluctance on your behalf to talk about it?
    — Eric Andersson, Peoplemag, 9 Sep. 2023
  • All signs point to Branson’s reluctance to keep funding the firm.
    — Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz, 31 Mar. 2023
  • The Maclin character’s reluctance to change his ways is based on truth.
    — Adam Iscoe, The New Yorker, 29 July 2024
  • But some of it was clearly reluctance for voters to go for Vance.
    — Aaron Blake, Washington Post, 15 July 2024
  • Yet, his seeming reluctance to run the ball at times can confound.
    — Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel, 23 Nov. 2022
  • Did the state’s reluctance to get on board delay the program’s uptake?
    — Ian Max Stevenson, Idaho Statesman, 8 May 2024
  • The joint press release tucks the reason for that reluctance away in a dependent clause.
    — Jeremy Lott, Washington Examiner, 4 Jan. 2024
  • The dog's reluctance to get close to others made trying to rescue the dog and free her from the bowl challenging.
    — Chris Barilla, Peoplemag, 18 July 2024
  • The person closest to her needs to speak frankly — for the family — about their reluctance to visit the house again.
    — Jeanne Phillips, The Mercury News, 27 Sep. 2024
  • Their reluctance to live and work on camera was strong, but their desire to spread the word about the kids who need assistance was stronger.
    — Christine Lennon, Better Homes & Gardens, 1 Mar. 2023
  • The researchers suggested that might have been the result of patients’ reluctance to be charged a fee.
    — Benjamin Ryan, New York Times, 24 Jan. 2023
  • This prompted his wife to take him to the hospital despite his reluctance to go.
    — Kimberlee Speakman, Peoplemag, 8 May 2024
  • The reluctance to list also is rooted in the worry that a new house won’t be easily found.
    — Ed Stannard, Hartford Courant, 2 June 2024
  • There is an equal reluctance to commemorate milestones, and this year the DRIP marks three of them.
    — Omar El Akkad, Harper's Magazine, 27 Sep. 2023
  • Most recently, signs of reluctance have been pronounced in the swift growing-and-shrinking stake in the maker of the Call of Duty video games.
    — Ananya Bhattacharya, Quartz, 15 Feb. 2023
  • The union has said that the problems at Yellow are due to mismanagement, not with the union’s reluctance to go along with the restricting plans.
    — Chris Isidore, CNN, 27 July 2023
  • Young’s reluctance to perform was largely rooted in concerns about the spread of Covid.
    — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 8 June 2023
  • That episode is likely weighing on Mr. Garland and adding to his reluctance to speak up, said Mr. Rozenshtein.
    — Jan Wolfe, WSJ, 10 Aug. 2022
  • Despite her reluctance to be caught watching Friends on her own time, Kudrow has rarely shied away from discussing her time on the series.
    — Max Gao, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 July 2024
  • On one hand, the film’s (or the subjects’) reluctance to take more explicit stances can seem curious, even timid.
    — Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Oct. 2022
  • Diverse factors are blamed for the reluctance among South Koreans to have kids.
    — Sam Kim, Fortune Asia, 28 Feb. 2024
  • What is perhaps the most intriguing thing about SZA is her reluctance to step into the spotlight.
    — Okla Jones, Essence, 9 Dec. 2022
  • Their reluctance, in this climate, to cozy up to Israel is not simply a question of regime survival.
    — Marc Lynch, Foreign Affairs, 14 Oct. 2023
  • The board's reluctance to pass a policy is rooted in both the likelihood of lawsuits, as well as the harm SB 150 could bring to some students.
    — Krista Johnson, The Courier-Journal, 7 Aug. 2023
  • Distrust of the medical system is also a key factor in the reluctance of Black men to get a prostate screening.
    — Taayoo Murray, Essence, 7 June 2024
  • His previous relationship, spanning nine years, came to an end due to his reluctance to commit.
    — Lea Veloso, StyleCaster, 15 Oct. 2024
  • His reluctance to seize a leadership role on the Serbian national team this summer revealed a defining contradiction in his life these days: one between the sway his voice has and his own perception of how strong that sway is.
    — Bennett Durando, The Denver Post, 20 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'reluctance.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: