Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Reluctantly |
ReluctantlyAdverb1. With reluctance. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "reluctantly" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1615. (references) |
Crosswords: Reluctantly |
| English words defined with "reluctantly": Against the grain ♦ Backwardly, buckle under ♦ cough up ♦ disjointedly ♦ give in ♦ Hindenburg, however ♦ knuckle under ♦ Paul Ludwig von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, Paul von Hindenburg, pony up ♦ spit up, succumb ♦ third ♦ yield. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "reluctantly": Astræa. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Tangled Tale | Carroll, Lewis | Here you go wrong in your arithmetic, and I must, however reluctantly, bid you farewell. |
Life, the Universe and Everything | Douglas Adams | Arthur's consciousness approached his body as from a great distance, and reluctantly. It had had some bad times in there. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Many years have already passed away since the author of this book, who is compelled, reluctantly, to speak of himself, was in Paris. |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | Pa reached reluctantly into his pocket and brought out the leather pouch. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Litigation is considered only reluctantly as a final option. (references) | |
As with all bureaucracies, entities and persons give up powers reluctantly. (references) | ||
Thailand has very few technicians trained to manage and operate these kinds of facilities, and according to interviews with industry people, classes the BMA held to train technicians for these plants were sparsely and reluctantly attended. (references) | ||
Civil Liberties | Liberia | With some notable exceptions, government officials reluctantly are tolerant of the press; however, they frequently rebuked the media publicly for what they considered negative reporting of events. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
George Washington | 1789-1797 | I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly. |
George W. Bush | 2001-2005 | This nation fights reluctantly, because we know the cost, and we dread the days of mourning that always come. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Reluctantly" is generally used as an adverb (general) -- approximately 98.10% of the time. "Reluctantly" is used about 999 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adverb (general) | 98.1% | 980 | 7,467 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.9% | 19 | 80,337 |
| Total | 100.00% | 999 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "reluctantly": reluctantly-shared. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "reluctantly"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | pa qejf (aversely, grudgingly, half-heartedly, loathly, logy, unwillingly), pa dëshirë (spiritless, unwillingly), me gjysmë zemre (half hearted). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | كرها (compulsorily, forcibly, unwillingly), على نحو مقاوم, بدون حماس. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | неохотно (grudgingly, half-heartedly, regretfully, unwillingly), насила (forcibly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 勉强地. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | neochotnì (disobligingly, unwillingly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | vastenmielisesti (against one's will, unwillingly), vastahakoisesti (against one's will, against the grain), epämieluisasti (unwillingly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | sans enthousiasme, regret, contrec"ur. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | widerstrebend (conflicting, jibbing, reluctant), ungern (grudgingly, unwillingly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | על כורחו (against one's will, perforce). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | vonakodva (aversely, grudgingly, loath, loth, unwillingly), nem szívesen (against the grain). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | malvolentieri (against one's will, unwillingly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 渋々 (unwillingly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | しぶしぶ (unwillingly), しかたなしに (helplessly), しかたなく (as a last resort, helplessly), ふしょうぶしょう (grudgingly, unwilling), いやいやながら, いやいや (by no means, grudgingly, shaking head in refusal, unwillingly), やむ'えず (against one's will, inevitably, necessarily, unavoidably). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 꺼리게. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | eluctantlyray relutantemente, com relutância (aversely, unwillingly). (various references) greu (annoying, arduous, awkward, burden, burdensome, busy, clumsy, dangerously, difficult, difficulty, fatiguing, gravely, grievous, hard, hardly, heavily, heavy, inconvenient, labored, laborious, laboured, leaden, lot, massive, massy, near, onerous, oppressive, painful, parlous, precarious, punitive, scarcely, seriously, severe, solid, stiff, stodgy, stolid, strenuous, stuffy, ticklish, toilful, tough, troublesome, trying, uneasy, uphill, wearisome, weary, weight, weighty), fãrã tragere de inimã (half hearted, reluctant). (various references) неохотно (aversely, grudgingly, unwillingly, with a bad grace, with half a heart). (various references) preko volje, opirući se. (various references) de mala gana (fretfully, grudgingly, reluctant), a regañadientes (grudgingly, unwillingly). (various references) motvilligt. (various references) istemeden, isteksizce (against the grain, grudgingly, halfheartedly, unwillingly), isteksiz olarak, gönülsüzce (grudgingly, halfheartedly, unwillingly), ağırdan alarak. (various references) неохоче (aversely, grudgingly, unwillingly), без бажання. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | graviter. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Reluctantly" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: reluctanly, reluctantay, reluctlantly, reluktetle, relunctantly, rleuctantly. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "reluctantly" (pronounced rulu"ktuntlē) |
| 6 | -t u n t l ē | blatantly, competently, concomitantly, consistently, constantly, exultantly, hesitantly, importantly, inadvertently, incompetently, insistently, instantly, intermittently, militantly, patently, persistently. |
| 5 | -u n t l ē | abundantly, accidently, adamantly, apparently, ardently, arrogantly, brilliantly, coherently, complacently, concurrently, confidently, consequently, conveniently, currently, decently, defiantly, differently, diligently, efficiently, elegantly, eloquently, eminently, evidently, excellently, extravagantly, fervently, flagrantly, flamboyantly, fluently, fraudulently, frequently, imminently, impatiently, imprudently, incessantly, incoherently, independently, indignantly, inefficiently, infrequently, inherently, innocently, insufficiently, intelligently, leniently, magnificently, negligently, obediently, patiently, permanently, pleasantly, poignantly, predominantly, presently, prominently, prudently, pungently, recently, reverently, significantly, silently, stridently, stringently, subsequently, sufficiently, transparently, triumphantly, unpleasantly, urgently, valiantly, vehemently, violently, virulently. |
| 4 | -n t l ē | bluntly, faintly, gently, intently, jointly, nonchalantly, quaintly, saintly. |
| 3 | -t l ē | abruptly, absolutely, accurately, acutely, adequately, adroitly, affectionately, alternately, appropriately, approximately, aptly, astutely, brightly, commensurately, compassionately, completely, concretely, correctly, costly, courtly, covertly, curtly, definitely, deftly, deliberately, delicately, desperately, devoutly, difficultly, directly, discreetly, dishonestly, dispassionately, disproportionately, distinctly, earnestly, elaborately, exactly, expertly, explicitly, exquisitely, firstly, flatly, forthrightly, fortnightly, fortunately, ghastly, ghostly, greatly, honestly, hotly, illicitly, immaculately, immediately, imperfectly, implicitly, inaccurately, inadequately, inappropriately, incorrectly, indefinitely, indirectly, indiscriminately, ineptly, infinitely, innately, inordinately, intimately, intricately, justly, knightly, lastly, lately, legitimately, lightly, manifestly, minutely, moderately, modestly, mostly, motley, neatly, nightly, overtly, partly, passionately, perfectly, politely, portly, priestly, privately, promptly, proportionately, quietly, raptly, remotely, resolutely, rightly, robustly, secretly, separately, shortly, slightly, smartly, softly, sprightly, stately, steadfastly, stoutly, strictly, succinctly, sweetly, swiftly, tacitly, tightly, ultimately, unfortunately, unjustly, unsightly, vastly, Whitely. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-l-l-n-r-t-t-u-y" | |
-2 letters: centrally, neutrally, reluctant. | |
-3 letters: centaury, clattery, cluttery, cultrate, latently, latterly, lucently, lunately, neurally, nucellar, rectally, truncate, tutelary, unreally. | |
-4 letters: acutely, alertly, cattery, cautery, centaur, central, century, clatter, cleanly, clearly, clutter, cruelly, cruelty, curtate, cutlery, larceny, latency, lucarne, nectary, neutral, nucleal, nuclear, taunter, treacly, truancy, tutelar, unclear, uncrate, utterly. | |
-5 letters: acetyl, acuter, allure, antler, attune. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-l-l-n-r-t-t-u-y" | |
+2 letters: translucently. | |
+3 letters: inarticulately. | |
+4 letters: interculturally. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)52 65 6C 75 63 74 61 6E 74 6C 79 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).-. . .-.. ..- -.-. - .- -. - .-.. -.--. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010010 01100101 01101100 01110101 01100011 01110100 01100001 01101110 01110100 01101100 01111001 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)R e l u c t a n t l y |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0052 0065 006C 0075 0063 0074 0061 006E 0074 006C 0079 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)5271788769866780867891 |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Images: Slideshow | 5. Quotations: Fiction 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Quotations: Speeches 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Translations: Modern 11. Translations: Ancient 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Orthography 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
