DISINCLINATION

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A certain degree of unwillingness

Example:

after some hesitation he agreed

Synonyms:

disinclination; hesitancy; hesitation; indisposition; reluctance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("disinclination" is a kind of...):

involuntariness; unwillingness (the trait of being unwilling)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "disinclination"):

sloth; slothfulness (a disinclination to work or exert yourself)

Derivation:

disincline (make unwilling)

Sense 2

Meaning:

That toward which you are inclined to feel dislike

Example:

his disinclination for modesty is well known

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("disinclination" is a kind of...):

dislike (a feeling of aversion or antipathy)

Antonym:

inclination (that toward which you are inclined to feel a liking)

Credits

Context examples:

As a sort of touchstone, however, she began to speak of his kindness in conveying the aunt and niece; and though his answer was in the spirit of cutting the matter short, she believed it to indicate only his disinclination to dwell on any kindness of his own.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Whatever Marianne was desirous of, her mother would be eager to promote—she could not expect to influence the latter to cautiousness of conduct in an affair respecting which she had never been able to inspire her with distrust; and she dared not explain the motive of her own disinclination for going to London.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

If they profess a disinclination for it, I only set it down that they have not yet seen the right person.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

But at other times doubt and alarm intermingled with his hopes; and when he thought of her acknowledged disinclination for privacy and retirement, her decided preference of a London life, what could he expect but a determined rejection? unless it were an acceptance even more to be deprecated, demanding such sacrifices of situation and employment on his side as conscience must forbid.