Reluctant

Examples

• I said it (people often do so, in such cases) like a rather reluctant concession to truth and justice;--as if I wanted to deny it! Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
• I have lifted it for a moment, even in this narrative, with a reluctant hand, and dropped it gladly. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
• I felt reluctant to be present, when Mr. Peggotty first met his sister and Ham; and made Mr. Omer my excuse for lingering behind. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
• True,' was Sissy's reluctant admission. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
• To speak the truth, I thought none in Yorkshire knew better than yourself why he was reluctant to come home. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
• A sister to whom I have confided so much, aunt, will not be reluctant to confide in me. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
• You have no goodwill towards this Wrayburn,' said Bradley, coming to the name in a reluctant and forced way, as if he were dragged to it. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
• Much better, said Jerry, not unlike a reluctant witness at the establishment in question, than I, as a honest tradesman, wish to know the Bailey. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
• I seized her reluctant hand--Dear friend, I cried, misguided victim, do you not intend to escape with me? Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
• He gave a reluctant assent to this. Plato. The Republic.
• The old man answered with a reluctant nod. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
• She was reluctant to yield there, where he wanted her, to yield as it were her very identity. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
• One of them she knew, a tall, slow, reluctant woman with a weight of fair hair and a pale, long face. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
• And may reluctant admiration acknowledge that he electrified her with two words? Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
• He sprang through a gate into a field, dragging the reluctant Pompey after him. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
• One thing after another had been torn from his reluctant grasp, and now it seemed as if his life itself was to crown the measure of repayment. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
• And thus our youth, having been educated only in that simple music which, as we said, inspires temperance, will be reluctant to go to law. Plato. The Republic.
• I'll try,' returned the reluctant whelp, 'if it isn't a long un. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
• And also they were dragged into a reluctant attempt to define their relations to Old-World politics in some other terms than those of mere aloofness. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
• So secretive and active and anxious the young woman seemed, so reluctant, slinking, the young man. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
• Sir James Hall of Dunglass was a reluctant convert to Hutton's system of geology. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
• I never had a home, I never had brothers or sisters; I must and will have them now: you are not reluctant to admit me and own me, are you? Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
• Elizabeth tried to join in her father's pleasantry, but could only force one most reluctant smile. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
• He did not care himself about spending money, and was not reluctant to give it. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
• But, here the Irrepressible skirmished into the conflict, dragging the reluctant form of Mr Sampson after her. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
• He gave a reluctant 'Yes. Plato. The Republic.
• Ye-es, is Mr. Weevle's reluctant admission. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
• But he was reluctant to try it. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
• The woman seemed desirous, yet reluctant, to speak, and answered, in low, mysterious tone. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
• Do you fancy me then so humble and so void of taste as to buy with my money the reluctant embraces of any woman breathing? Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.

Edited by Ivan