reluctantly

adverb

re·​luc·​tant·​ly ri-ˈlək-tənt-lē 

: in a reluctant manner : with aversion or hesitation

The quiet resolution in his voice penetrated her racing thoughts. Reluctantly she gave him a corner of her attention.

—Elizabeth George Speare

He is about to release 'Thriller,' and today he's agreed, reluctantly, to sit for the Rolling Stone cover.

—Gerri Hirshey

Kirsti had gone to bed reluctantly, complaining that she wanted to stay up with the others, that she was grownup enough, … that it wasn't fair.

—Lois Lowry

Examples of reluctantly in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Deborah pecks her before reluctantly giving in to more passionate smooches. —Erin Jensen, USA Today, 8 May 2026

Butcher even reluctantly agrees to merely injure (instead of killing) them. —Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 6 May 2026

Gosling’s Holland March reluctantly joins with Crowe’s Jackson Healy, an enforcer, on a missing girl case. —Jake Coyle, Fortune, 6 May 2026

Then there is the lifelong contentiousness with her mother, Marluce Martins Perry, a talented Brazilian artist who reluctantly traded her gifts and status for matrimony and child-rearing and resented her family in the wake of her decision. —A.d. Amorosi, SPIN, 4 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1646, in the meaning defined above