loath

or loth

[ lohth, lohth ]

adjective

1. unwilling; reluctant; disinclined; averse:

   to be loath to admit a mistake.

   Antonyms: eager

loath

/ ləʊθ /

adjective

1. usually foll by to reluctant or unwilling
2. nothing loath
   willing

Derived Forms

• ˈloathness, noun

Other Words From

• loathness noun
• over·loath adjective
• un·loath adjective
• un·loathly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of loath¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English loth, lath, Old English lāth “hostile, hateful”; cognate with Dutch leed, German leid “sorry,” Old Norse leithr “hateful”

Word History and Origins

Origin of loath¹

Old English lāth (in the sense: hostile); related to Old Norse leithr

Synonym Study

See reluctant.

Example Sentences

There are few sentences I am more loath to speak than “Donald Trump is right.”

From Slate

Estimates of the haul — only estimates, because all but a few guests were loath to talk or press charges — inched up to around a million dollars, a conveniently round, impressive number suitable for a miniseries subtitle.

From Los Angeles Times

Judges are loath to blow the whistle on colleagues and have historically taken the position “Not my chambers, not my business.”

From Slate

And like them or loath them, video meetings are here to stay, via the likes of Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.

From BBC

“I am loath to bless this aggrandizement of judicial power where Congress has so plainly limited the discretion of the courts, and where it so clearly intends for the expert agency it has created to make the primary determinations about both merits and process,” she wrote.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• afraid
• hesitant
• reluctant
• unwilling