reluctance

Etymology

From reluct + -ance.

noun

  1. Unwillingness to do something.
    Our new dog shows reluctance to go on walks, preferring to be indoors.
  2. Hesitancy in taking some action.
  3. (archaic) Defiance, disobedience.
  4. (physics) That property of a magnetic circuit analogous to resistance in an electric circuit.
    That is to say, the total number of ampere-hours, including the drop of gilbertage, due to magnetic flux traversing the reluctance of the circuit, must be equal to zero. 1903, The Electrical World and Engineer, volume 42, page 369

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