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Reluctant vs Unable - What's the difference?

reluctant | unable |

As adjectives the difference between reluctant and unable

is that reluctant is opposing; offering resistance (to) while unable is not able; lacking a certain ability.

reluctant

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Opposing; offering resistance (to).
  • * 1819 , Lord Byron, Don Juan , II.108:
  • There, breathless, with his digging nails he clung / Fast to the sand, lest the returning wave, / From whose reluctant roar his life he wrung, / Should suck him back to her insatiate grave [...].
  • * 2008 , Kern Alexander et al., The World Trade Organization and Trade in Services , p. 222:
  • They are reluctant to the inclusion of a necessity test, especially of a horizontal nature, and emphasize, instead, the importance of procedural disciplines [...].
  • Not wanting to take some action; unwilling.
  • She was reluctant to lend him the money

    Synonyms

    * unwilling, disinclined

    unable

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Not able; lacking a certain ability.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 21, author=Tom Rostance, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Fulham 0-5 Man Utd , passage=Fulham switched off as Giggs took a quick corner to Valencia. He played it back to Giggs, whose cross was headed in by Nani with the lurking Rooney unable to add a touch. }}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
  • , volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […]  But the scandals kept coming, […]. A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul.}}
    Are you unable to mind your own business or something?

    Antonyms

    * able

    Anagrams

    *