reluctantlyadv.

1646 N. Lockyer Eng. faithfully watcht With Epigraph 162 'Tis below God to shew kindnesse to us here reluctantly, though wee be all here such base creatures.

1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. v. 866 Not Willingly, but Reluctantly.

1688 P. Pett Happy Future State of Eng. 316 So many Persons who erred, so reluctantly brought to its Altars.

1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield II. xi. 168 Finding it impossible to resist, he reluctantly complied.

1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 219 They..move slowly, but reluctantly, towards the yawning jaws of their devourers.

1856 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. 115 A dispensation was reluctantly granted by the pope, and reluctantly accepted by the English ministry.

1871 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues I. 170 To that he very reluctantly nodded assent.

1919 J. Conrad Arrow of Gold v. v. 275 The perfect stillness and silence made her raise her eyes at last, reluctantly, with a hard, defensive expression which I had never seen in them before.

1963 ‘D. Cory’ Hammerhead xi. 161 There were two men now in the doorway, both with pistols... One of them Fedora might have taken; but not, he reluctantly decided, both.

2006 S. M. Stirling Sky People ii. 44 You can't fault his bushcraft, the Cajun acknowledged reluctantly.

1713 F. Reynardson Ode to Pretender 9 The Silver Seine to hear his Song, Reluctantly her ling'ring Folds had Shov'd along.

1790 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 80 382 A solution of copper..was very reluctantly and slowly precipitated.

1884 Cent. Mag. Dec. 283/1 It was verily ‘heavy marching’. The foot sank very insidiously into the mud, and reluctantly came up again.

1955 K. Hutton & A. Swallow Chem. for Gen. Sci. xv. 221 Water dissociates into ions very reluctantly.

2004 P. F. Hamilton Pandora's Star xi. 318 What seemed like hours later the air-insulated section of the tent had reluctantly self-inflated and he'd got the support poles secured to the edges.