Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- unwillingness; disinclination: reluctance to speak in public.
- Electricity. the resistance to magnetic flux offered by a magnetic circuit, determined by the permeability and arrangement of the materials of the circuit.
noun
- lack of eagerness or willingness; disinclination
- physics a measure of the resistance of a closed magnetic circuit to a magnetic flux, equal to the ratio of the magnetomotive force to the magnetic flux
1640s, “act of struggling against,” from obsolete verb reluct “to struggle or rebel against” (1520s), from Latin reluctari “to struggle against, resist, make opposition,” from re- “against” (see re-) + luctari “to struggle, wrestle,” perhaps shares a common origin with Greek lygos “pliant twig,” lygizein “to bend, twist,” Old English locc “twist of hair” (see lock (n.2)). Meaning “unwillingness” is first attested 1660s. Related: Reluctancy (1620s.).