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UNWILLING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
In spite of contrary volition
Example:
an unwilling smile
Classified under:
Similar:
involuntary; nonvoluntary; unvoluntary (not subject to the control of the will)
Derivation:
unwillingness (the trait of being unwilling)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not disposed or inclined toward
Example:
unwilling to face facts
Classified under:
Similar:
grudging (of especially an attitude)
loath; loth; reluctant (unwillingness to do something contrary to your custom)
Also:
defiant; noncompliant (boldly resisting authority or an opposing force)
disinclined (unwilling because of mild dislike or disapproval)
involuntary; nonvoluntary; unvoluntary (not subject to the control of the will)
Attribute:
disposition; temperament (your usual mood)
Antonym:
willing (disposed or inclined toward)
Derivation:
unwillingness (the trait of being unwilling)
Context examples:
I was unwilling to quit the sight of those that remained to me, and above all, I desired to see my sweet Elizabeth in some degree consoled.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
But my mother, frightened as she was, would not consent to take a fraction more than was due to her and was obstinately unwilling to be content with less.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
In psychiatry, a state in which a person is unable or unwilling to see the truth or reality about an issue or situation.
(Denial, NCI Dictionary)
He or she may be eager to have an argument, and be unwilling to work with caregivers to make the situation better.
(Agitation, NCI Dictionary)
One theory is that the monkeys weren't used to eating the continent's food: They were unwilling to trade South America's tropical fruits for northern acorns.
(First-ever fossil monkey found in North America, NSF)
François was obdurate, but when he turned his back Buck again displaced Sol-leks, who was not at all unwilling to go.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
I had often been unwilling to look at my master, because I feared he could not be pleased at my look; but I was sure I might lift my face to his now, and not cool his affection by its expression.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
I remember the scene impelled me to sudden laughter, and in the next instant I realized I was becoming hysterical myself; for these were women of my own kind, like my mother and sisters, with the fear of death upon them and unwilling to die.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
That such letters, so full of affection and confidence, could have been so answered, Elinor, for Willoughby's sake, would have been unwilling to believe.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
It would be no better, if I stopped my most unwilling hand.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
