How to use unwilling in a sentence
40 example sentences · adjective
Unwilling means not willing; reluctant. Example: “We are unwilling to restore his previous privileges after his betrayal of our trust.”
Examples of unwilling by meaning
adjectiveNot willing; reluctant.
- an unwilling servant
- 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
More sentences with unwilling
- The visitors were hovering at the door, seemingly unwilling to enter.From the entry hover
- The studio bosses were unwilling to approve the answer print of the novice director's debut.From the entry answer print
- Unwilling to try his hardest, Jason instead chose to bring it weak at the gym, and didn't even break a sweat.From the entry bring it weak
- The government is unwilling to bail out the failed bank.From the entry failed
- I thee tell, Woman: our Son is become lost to Shakespeareanism and Latin, all but unwilling to be a Typesetter as his Father.From the entry Shakespeareanism
- Brianna apparently returned tense and agitated, unwilling to say what was bothering her.2026 July 16, Nicholas Muhoro, “Inside the 2004 Brianna Maitland Case: One of Vermont’s Most Haunting Mysteries”, in Skip Boring, archived…. From the entry apparently
- Many people are data phobic and unwilling to engage with data to make decisions.2014, Zach Gemignani, Chris Gemignani, Richard Galentino, Data Fluency, →ISBN. From the entry data phobic
- Unwilling sheep?” “I’ve worked as rousie, never shearer, but I’ve seen them carry on.”1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Baton Rouge, La.; London: Louisiana State University Press, published 1985, →ISBN. From the entry rousie
- They claim the name of Christ but seem uninterested or unwilling to submit to his authority or take his instructions seriously.2015, John J. Thompson, Jesus, Bread, and Chocolate. From the entry Christiany
- However, Paul was unwilling to concede this claim.1996 March 1, Larry D. Ball, Desert Lawmen: The High Sheriffs of New Mexico and Arizona Territories, 1846-1912, UNM Press, →ISBN. From the entry shrievalty
- Whites were either unable or unwilling to pronounce an African name, and considered it uncivilized to have one.1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom. From the entry nelson
- I don't think that gays are unwilling to accept help.1992 March 25, Iseult White, “Re: De-muffining, me too!”, in soc.bi (Usenet). From the entry biness
- He who would think clearly must think like a peripatetic even if he is unwilling to walk like one.1961, Albert Upton, Design for Thinking: A First Book in Semantics, section 11. From the entry peripatetic
- An unwilling little glisten had come into the violet eyes.1939 June, Jack Williamson, “One Against the Legion”, in Astounding Science-Fiction, volume 23, number 4, page 138. From the entry blaster
- I even observed one bird aimlessly carrying a splinter of wood, uncertain of its utility, yet unwilling to release it.1904 May–June, Walter K[enrick] Fisher, “The Home Life of a Buccaneer”, in Walter K. Fisher, editor, The Condor: A Magazine of Western…. From the entry glean
- If, when the moment arrives, China is unwilling to side with its allies, the Arabs will rapidly find a declawed Chinese dragon unwelcome.2016 January 25, “Why Arabs would regret a toothless Chinese dragon”, in The National, archived from the original on 10 Jul 2024…. From the entry declaw
- The fourth model is called the enlightment model: Actors are seen to be responsible for problems but unable or unwilling to provide solutions.2013 June 29, Leo Montada, “Coping with Life Stress”, in Herman Steensma, Riël Vermunt, editors, Social Justice in Human Relations Volume…. From the entry fourth
- They do not believe the doubtee is telling the truth and are unwilling to take the claims made about the card laid on faith.2012, Dixon Kinser, Donald Miller, Exploring Blue Like Jazz. From the entry doubtee
- The stretch of land that Father inherited from his father was misfarmed by every generation for over seventy-five years and was gray, unwilling soil.2012, Kevin McIlvoy, The Complete History of New Mexico. From the entry misfarm
- It is suspicious of all authentic, loving relationships because other people may challenge us or be unwilling to let us be in control.2011, Craig Nakken, Finding Your Moral Compass, page 40. From the entry antirelationship
- And the city as Junkspace vomits its detritus in the form of those unable or unwilling to pay the price for its maintenance.2011, Ted Gournelos, David J. Gunkel, Transgression 2.0: Media, Culture, and the Politics of a Digital Age, →ISBN. From the entry junkspace
- Unwilling to accept the strictures of the Russian Orthodox Church, they demonstrated a very bootstrappy, can-do attitude by simply inventing their own religion from scratch.2011, Alina Simone, You Must Go and Win: Essays, pages 148–149. From the entry bootstrappy
- A brush with death and a brief trip to the hereafter left vintage clothing store owner Nicki Styx an unwilling ghoulfriend to the dead.2009, Teri Garey, A Match Made in Hell, back cover. From the entry ghoulfriend
- In Detroit, the buzz is that he's too nice a guy, unwilling to impose draconian job cuts at the risk of angering the UAW.2006 September 6, Daren Fonda, “Ford Motor's New Chief: "I Think It's a Tough Situation"”, in Time. From the entry buzz
- They are innocent and unwilling victims.2001, Paul A. Woodward, The Doctrine of Double Effect, page 293. From the entry voluntarity
- Here Tony is unconvincingly cast as a comprehensive school teacher who through some tortuous contrivance ends up as an unwitting, and apparently unwilling, gigolo.1993 April 9, Chris Rundle, “Too much of Tony . . .”, in Western Daily Press, Temple Way, Bristol, page 7. From the entry bedwettingly
- There was not any large percentage that would be unwilling to serve their country if the country was at war, was there?1938, “Statement of Murray Kempton, Editor, Johns Hopkins University News Letter”, in American Youth Act: Hearings before a Subcommittee…. From the entry overpoweredly
- The semi-trailing thornless blackberries may not qualify for a place in your home garden or landscape if you are unwilling to make a slight compromise on flavor.2020, Robert E Gough, Edward Barclay Poling, Small Fruits in the Home Garden. From the entry semi-trailing
- Sometimes we will under-accommodate or fail to appreciate, pay sufficient attention to, or be simply unwilling to take into account, the needs of the other party.2018, Debra L. Worthington, Margaret E. Fitch-Hauser, Listening: Processes, Functions, and Competency, →ISBN. From the entry under-accommodate
- That, however, is something the ZOA has seemed unwilling to do, on the theory that Bannon is a self-declared, and possibly even sincere, supporter of the Jewish state.2017 November 16, Bret Stephens, “Steve Bannon Is Bad for the Jews”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 10 Jul 2020. From the entry possibly
- This left Henry de Bourbon, the Huguenot King of Navarre, as the primogenitive heir to the French throne, an eventuality the Catholic League in France was unwilling to accept.2014, Roland Mushat Frye, The Renaissance Hamlet, page 68. From the entry primogenitive
- Being unwilling to formulate, in his next turn he confirms that he understood (metasequential right), adding a supplementary inquiry, ‘the whole lot’, which Nicole confirms with a minimal ‘yeah’.2008, Peter Grundy, Doing Pragmatics, third edition, Routeledge, page 168. From the entry metasequential
- One risk of introducing potent material too fast is that a veteran could become retraumatized and perhaps unwilling to continue other kinds of therapy, as well.2007 August 28, Amanda Schaffer, “Not a Game: Simulation to Lessen War Trauma”, in New York Times. From the entry retraumatize
- Lady Jean was unwilling to cleave to her religion at first throwing the reverend’s proffered bible against the wall and dismissing his preaching as ‘trittle trattle’.2003 June 15, Skelton, Douglas, Deadlier Than The Male Scotland's Most Wicked Women. From the entry trittle trattle
- Like Hardcastle, the gardener’s boy of Freddy’s youth, who had moved back and forth, remotely attending to things, unloquacious, unsmiling, totally unwilling to conspire in Freddy’s games.1965, Muriel Spark, The Mandelbaum Gate, London: Macmillan, Part One, Chapter 3. From the entry unloquacious
- Pig, not normally reticent in these matters, now acted like a mystic after a vision; unable, maybe unwilling, to put in words this ineffable or supernal talent of Panky’s.1963, Thomas Pynchon, V.. From the entry supernal
- But, mixed with her rage, a sort of unwilling compassion and fellow feeling kept rising for that girl, that silly, sugar-plum girl, brought to such a pass by—her husband.1917, John Galsworthy, chapter 15, in Beyond. From the entry fellow feeling
Meaning of unwilling
- adjective Not willing; reluctant.
Questions about unwilling in a sentence
- How do you use unwilling in a sentence?
- Unwilling is used as an adjective. For example: “We are unwilling to restore his previous privileges after his betrayal of our trust.”
- What is a short sentence with unwilling?
- “an unwilling servant”
- What does unwilling mean?
- Unwilling means not willing; reluctant.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unwilling (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use unwilling in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/unwilling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
