unwilling
un·will·ing (-wil′iŋ)
adjective
- not willing or inclined; reluctant; loath; averse
- done, said, given, etc. reluctantly
Etymology: altered (in 16th c.) < ME unwilland < OE unwillende < un-, not + prp. of willan: see will
- unwilled
unwilling
modif.
Modifying Another Word
- understandably: Effective competition can a good Bean Bag It deal are understandably unwilling.
- strangely: Margaret Thatcher's assistant, Robin Harris, is strangely unwilling to express a view on the Croatian situation.
- increasingly: The coalition of the willing seems to be increasingly unwilling.
- apparently: But the council is playing along, apparently unwilling to draw a line in the sand.
Infinitive complement
- co-operate: Any difficulties were chiefly created by the Khmer Rouge, who were unwilling to co-operate.
- cooperate: And most of those who do, are unwilling to cooperate.
- comply: If you are unwilling to comply with such request we may refuse to carry you and your Baggage.
- admit: A parent cannot compel a school to accept a pupil whom the school is, for any reason, unwilling to admit.
- accept: People are simply unwilling to accept orders from above.
- invest: I was unwilling to invest even the requested $ 4.95 to succeed in my mission.
Modifies a noun
- pawn: The island of Melos found itself an unwilling pawn in a vicious struggle between the Athenian and Spartan alliances.
- recipient: He was the unwilling recipient of baskets of fruit.
- participant: The naive Rodney is an unwilling participant in his brother's dodgy dealings.
- victim: As he is already under sentence of death everything seems to point to Ko-Ko as the unwilling victim.
- guest: I have no more to say; only linger, going out, like an unwilling guest.
- witness: An unwilling witness to pirates burying a mysterious chest.
Used with adjective complement
- seem: She seems unwilling to make a firm decision about whether gender has gray areas or is either starkly pink or blue.
- appear: The company appears unwilling to negotiate in a meaningful manner at the moment.
- remain: Yet many employers remain unwilling to take account of these wider issues.
- prove: Prefects were requested to ' persuade ' those who proved unwilling.
A group of theunwilling, picked fromtheunfit, to dothe unnecessary.
Minds like beds always made up (more stony than a shore) unwilling or unable.
Browse dictionary entries near unwilling
- unwieldy
- unwholesome
- unwept
- unwell
- unwelcome
- unwearied
- unwavering
- unwashed
- unwary
- unwarranted
- unwillingly
- unwind
- unwind a trade
- unwise
- unwisely
- unwish
- unwitting
- unwittingly
- unwonted
- unworldly
