unwilling

comparative more unwilling · superlative most unwilling

1. Not willing; reluctant

   an unwilling servant

   4 more examples

   We are unwilling to restore his previous privileges after his betrayal of our trust.

   There was a prevailing fear of the effect of large undertakings becoming monopolistic, and Parliament showed itself unwilling to sanction any large groupings.

   1948 January and February, “British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 1

   [...] but in the damp conditions prevailing the driver sensibly was unwilling to attempt the climb up through Combe Down tunnel without help, for fear of slipping to a standstill in the unventilated bore, [...].

   1960 March, “Motive Power Miscellany: Western Region”, in Trains Illustrated, page 184

   My son, a Canada-based IT professional who often travels to Ukraine, told me about the exhilarating atmosphere on those Ukraine-bound trains, bringing home hundreds of the unwilling refugees, mostly women and children (including the babies, born in exile on the way to meet their Ukrainian fighter fathers for the first time). The difference between Ukrainian refugees and other reluctant exiles is that Ukrainians are desperate to return.

   2024 September 4, Vitali Vitaliev, “A salute to Ukraine's 'Second Army'”, in RAIL, number 1017, page 49