un·will·ing

(ŭn-wĭl′ĭng)

adj.

1. Not willing; hesitant or loath: unwilling to face facts.

2. Done, given, or said reluctantly: unwilling consent.

un·will′ing·ly adv.

un·will′ing·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

unwillingness - the trait of being unwilling; "his unwillingness to cooperate vetoed every proposal I made"; "in spite of our warnings he plowed ahead with the involuntariness of an automaton"

involuntariness

disposition, temperament - your usual mood; "he has a happy disposition"

disinclination, hesitancy, hesitation, indisposition, reluctance - a certain degree of unwillingness; "a reluctance to commit himself"; "his hesitancy revealed his basic indisposition"; "after some hesitation he agreed"

resistance - (psychiatry) an unwillingness to bring repressed feelings into conscious awareness

willingness - cheerful compliance; "he expressed his willingness to help"

unwillingness

noun reluctance, resistance, refusal, opposition, objection, aversion, slowness, backwardness, diffidence, coyness, disinclination their unwillingness to accept responsibility for mistakes

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

unwillingness

noun

The state of not being disposed or inclined:

averseness, disinclination, indisposition, reluctance.

Translations

تَمَنُّع، عَدَم رَغْبَه أو إسْتِعْداد

neochotaodpor

uvillighed

Widerwille

refus

vonakodás

ófÿsi

malavoglia riluttanza

neochota

gönülsüzlükisteksizlik

不愿意

unwillingness

[ˈʌnˈwɪlɪŋnɪs] N → falta f de inclinación, desgana f
his unwillingness to help us → lo poco dispuesto que está/estaba a ayudarnos, su desgana para ayudarnos

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

unwillingness

n → Widerwillen nt, → Weigerung f; their unwillingness to compromise → ihre mangelnde Kompromissbereitschaft

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

unwilling

(anˈwiliŋ) adjective

not willing; reluctant. He's unwilling to accept the money.

unˈwillingness noun

unˈwillingly adverb

He did agree to go, but rather unwillingly.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The guns followed the teams with an air of unwillingness, of being dragged by the heels.

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I heard enough of what she said to you last night to understand her unwillingness to be acting with a stranger; and as she probably engaged in the part with different expectations--perhaps without considering the subject enough to know what was likely to be-- it would be ungenerous, it would be really wrong to expose her to it.

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Hunt, who first descried them, checked the eagerness of his companions, knowing the unwillingness of these Indians to part with their horses, and their aptness to hurry them off and conceal them, in case of an alarm.

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Bonaparte then spoke to him sharply, and the aide-de-camp, with evident unwillingness, left the room.

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"Ah, well--" It was their old interminable argument as to the obstinate unwillingness of the "clever people" to frequent the fashionable, and both men knew that there was no use in prolonging it.

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So far as I could make out, he painted with great difficulty, and in his unwillingness to accept help from anyone lost much time in finding out for himself the solution of technical problems which preceding generations had already worked out one by one.

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In this case (which I cannot contemplate without the greatest unwillingness), let me at least recommend you to stipulate that Miss Garth shall be present at the interview.

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Willoughby's behaviour in taking leave of them, his embarrassment,and affectation of cheerfulness, and, above all, his unwillingness to accept her mother's invitation, a backwardness so unlike a lover,so unlike himself, greatly disturbed her.

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I have observed that you have, in common with my two other friends, an unwillingness to hear the least mention of your own virtues; that, as a great poet says of one of you, (he might justly have said it of all three), you

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He yielded implicitly, and would fetch his hat and attend them in a moment." He left the room, and Catherine, with a disappointed, anxious face, began to speak of her unwillingness that he should be taking them out of doors against his own inclination, under a mistaken idea of pleasing her; but she was stopped by Miss Tilney's saying, with a little confusion, "I believe it will be wisest to take the morning while it is so fine; and do not be uneasy on my father's account; he always walks out at this time of day."

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You would have been less amiable in my eyes had there NOT been this little unwillingness; but allow me to assure you, that I have your respected mother's permission for this address.

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And unwillingness to help may be nobler than the virtue that rusheth to do so.

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