repulse
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to drive back or ward off (an attacking force); repel; rebuff
-
to reject with coldness or discourtesy
she repulsed his advances
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to produce a feeling of aversion or distaste
noun
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the act or an instance of driving back or warding off; rebuff
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a cold discourteous rejection or refusal
Usage
Some people think that the use of repulse in sentences such as he was repulsed by what he saw is incorrect and that the correct word is repel
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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repulsesimple
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repulsessimple
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have repulsedperfect
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has repulsedperfect
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am repulsingprogressive
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are repulsingprogressive
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is repulsingprogressive
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have been repulsingperfect progressive
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has been repulsingperfect progressive
Past
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repulsedsimple
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had repulsedperfect
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was repulsingprogressive
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were repulsingprogressive
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had been repulsingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of repulse
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin repulsus, past participle of repellere to repel
Explanation
To repulse something is to repel it or drive it back. When you repulse your sister, you disgust her. When you repulse the enemy in battle or someone in conversation, you force them back or make them turn away. Repulse is related to the word repel, and they mean similar things: to repulse an advance — romantic or warring — is to repel, or fend off, its advance. To repulse someone by being disgusting is to be repellent. You could repulse a person's attempts at conversation if you repulse him by picking your nose. Repulse is now most frequently used in the gross-out sense, but Jane Austin often had her characters repulse each others’ attempts at conversation or civility.
Vocabulary lists containing repulse
Lesson 1
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I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
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"The Crisis," Vocabulary from the essay
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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.
See Examples For:
Aristotle recognized that we take pleasure in viewing fictional representations of tragedies, suffering and mutilated corpses that would repulse us if we confronted them in reality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026
Now he dresses as if he looks in his closet, asks what would most repulse women, and throws that on to speak in public.
From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2025
Troops from South Korea, the United States and other countries under the direction of the United Nations battle to repulse the invasion.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 12, 2023
Kublai ultimately prevailed, since his bonds with the army conquering China and his resource-rich power base in the northeast left him well situated to repulse Ariq Boke’s attacks.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
We dissolved into each other, and we shared a common struggle against the evil within, which fought to repulse Ultima’s magic.
From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya
"Actually, the idea of wearing it repulses me, I don't even take my old ones out of my drawer. It's a shame, because the shirt itself is gorgeous."
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2022
But you never, ever have any obligation to go out with someone who repulses you in any way.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2021
“Beth, the thought of cutting up a turkey repulses me.”
From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2019
But this very unnaturalness terrifies and repulses others.
From Nature ● Jul. 24, 2018
But while Thomas’s touch now repulses me, I feel no revulsion toward Day.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
Gen. James Bartholomees told the troops after they were deemed to have repulsed the invaders from the beach.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
There were those repulsed by the kind of language parodied in these books, and those who forced everyone else to speak this way.
From Slate ● Jan. 5, 2025
The resulting documentary has already been released on Hulu in the US - with critics as fascinated by the story as they are repulsed by Nasubi's ordeal.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2024
Los Angeles has been a character in so much of my music because I’m both attracted and repulsed by it.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2024
And somehow, someway, she’d have to stop being repulsed by Valley.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
This ion is pushed out of the crystal by the repulsing forces of the nearby Li+ ions.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2023
Staufenbiel was at his best when it came to illuminating the emotional energies attracting or repulsing these characters.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 14, 2023
A key condition for success in repulsing the Chinese attack is that Taiwan’s government and military must successfully resist and not surrender.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 9, 2023
Speaking on the phone from Kyiv, Mr Zhorin said the roughly 1,000 Ukrainian defenders left in the works have been fighting in "360 degrees for more than one month", repulsing attacks from all angles.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2022
And we were careful not to touch, so careful it felt like some repulsing magnetic field had settled between us.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
