Word family noun willingness ≠ unwillingness adjective willing ≠ unwilling adverb willingly ≠ unwillingly
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishunwillingun‧will‧ing /ʌnˈwɪlɪŋ/ ●●○ adjective 1 [not before noun]WILLING# not wanting to do something and refusing to do itunwilling to do something He was unwilling or unable to pay the fine.2 WILLING[only before noun] not wanting to do something but doing it an unwilling helper —unwillingly adverb —unwillingness noun [uncountable]THESAURUSunwilling/not willing not wanting to do something and refusing to do itShe's unwilling to admit that she was wrong.Stuart was an unwilling participant in the shooting.Put away any toys the child is not willing to share, to avoid any problems.reluctant not willing to do something, although you may be persuaded after a while. Also used when someone does something after at first being unwilling to do itHe was reluctant to talk about his childhood.She gave a reluctant smile.the government's reluctant agreement to hold talks a reluctant herogrudging given unwillingly – used about admiration, respect, support, or an apologyHe gave her a grudging apology.He could not help feeling a grudging admiration for the old lady.be loath to do something to not want to do something, especially something that you might have to do – a rather formal useHe has more staff than he needs, but he is loath to get rid of good people. Examples from the Corpus
unwilling• What happens if her father is unwilling or unable to stay at home with her?• unwilling participants• Labour is clearly unwilling to address that issue, and tailors its words to suit its audience.• If you were unwilling to forward my small gift, why did you send me the gentleman's name and address?• He seemed unable or unwilling to marshal even what he knew on the page.• She came downstairs with this garment, triumphant, not unwilling to please with pleasure so cheaply bought.• He said he was unwilling to run the excerpt by itself, without any context.unwilling to do something• As in Tourane, however, local Catholics were unwilling to assist him, and the southerners were uncommonly aggressive.• The gods were unwilling to destroy their own creation.• The fixed dose mixtures are certainly useful for patients who are unable or unwilling to draw up two different insulins.• It was only then that she was aware of Nicandra standing silent in the doorway, unwilling to interrupt a conversation.• Developing countries were unwilling to listen to sermons about sustainability from those doing most of the polluting.• So far the landlord has been unwilling to lower our rent.• Very honestly, Petrus Partners was unwilling to make that commitment.• Thus, if interest rates are expected to fall, market participants will be unwilling to sell bills outright to the Bank.• They were unwilling to support the resolution which gave the president the military responsibility to enforce the act. 