unwilling participant

/ʌnˈwɪlɪŋ pɑːrˈtɪsɪpənt/

noun phrase

  1. A person who takes part in an activity, event, or situation without wanting to.

    B2

    countableneutral

    • "The child was an unwilling participant in the family outing."A2
    • "She became an unwilling participant in the argument."B1
    • "The witness was an unwilling participant in the media controversy."B2

Common mistakes

  • an unwilling participate→an unwilling participant

    "Participant" is the noun; "participate" is the verb.

Collocations

be an unwilling participantunwilling participant in a conflictunwilling participant in an argumentunwilling participant in an experiment

Word family

unwillingparticipateparticipantparticipation