reluctance
noun/ɹɪˈlʌktəns/
Etymology From reluct + -ance. From Latin relū̆ctor (“to struggle against, oppose, resist”) + -ance, from re- (“back”) + luctor (“to struggle”).
1
Unwillingness to do something.
- Our new dog shows reluctance to go on walks, preferring to be indoors.
2
Hesitancy in taking some action.
3
Archaic Defiance, disobedience.
- No more be mention’d then of violence / Against our selves, and wilful barrenness, / That cuts us off fom hope, and favours onely / Rancor and pride, impatience and despite, / Reluctance against God and his just yoke / Laid on our Necks.1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1041–6:
4
Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics That property of a magnetic circuit analogous to resistance in an electric circuit.
- That is to say, the total number of ampere-hours, including the drop of gilbertage, due to magnetic flux traversing the reluctance of the circuit, must be equal to zero.1903, The Electrical World and Engineer, volume 42, page 369:
- Derived terms
- reluctance cartridge, reluctance motor, reluctor, unreluctance
- Related terms
- reluctant, adjective, reluctantly, adverb