recoil
verb (used without object)
to draw back; start or shrink back, as in alarm, horror, or disgust.
have recoiled
-
present perfectof recoil.present perfect
Used to describe actions that started in the past and continue into or have direct relevance to the present.
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.
Amid the rebuke, brands have recoiled back within the antiseptic neutrality where they’re most comfortable: irrelevant celebrity cameos, cheap millennial nostalgia, unmoored wistfulness for simpler days.
From Slate ● Feb. 8, 2026
Treasury yields have recoiled almost 30 basis points from Wednesday's highs to sit at 4.66% - and are on course for their biggest weekly drop since March.
From Reuters ● Nov. 3, 2023
Denver Brunsman, an associate professor of history at GWU, who teaches a course on “George Washington and his World,” said the first president likely would have recoiled at the moniker.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 6, 2023
How she would have recoiled to know that devotees of the faith called Thelema lived after World War II among the grand mansions of Pasadena’s Millionaire’s Row.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2022
A stag hunted to desperation would have turned at bay with a look like that; and the poor animal might have recoiled as she did, when that wild burst of admiration stormed over her.
From The Old Countess; or, The Two Proposals by Ann S. (Ann Sophia) Stephens
