recoil
verb (used without object)
to draw back; start or shrink back, as in alarm, horror, or disgust.
recoiled
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past participleof recoil.past participle
A verb form used in perfect and passive verb constructions and that can also function as a modifier.
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past tense formof recoil.past tense
Used to describe completed actions or previous habitual actions.
recoilverb (used without object)to draw back; start or shrink back, as in alarm, horror, or disgust.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But the risks of fame — the kind her friends at Daisy Chain Fields have won, savored and recoiled from — is settling in too.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
The Hungarian photographer recoiled at the work of American photographers such as Ansel Adams, whose “cult of technical perfection,” according to Patricia Albers, risked “killing their subjects with irrelevant detail.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
As an unknown theater actor, Reiner recoiled when strangers pegged him merely as “Carl Reiner’s son.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025
By that point, Layan had forgotten her completely, Omama says, and recoiled when they met.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2025
My hands recoiled from the coldness of serpent flesh, my nails clawed at my palms, the leaves I had parted moved back to cover it.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
