recoil
Americanverb (used without object)
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recoils,
present (3rd person singular)
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recoiled,
past participle, past
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recoiling
present participle
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to draw back; start or shrink back, as in alarm, horror, or disgust.
-
to spring or fly back, as in consequence of force of impact or the force of the discharge, as a firearm.
- Synonyms:
- rebound
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to spring or come back; react (usually followed by on orupon ).
Plots frequently recoil upon the plotters.
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Physics. (of an atom, a nucleus, or a particle) to undergo a change in momentum as a result either of a collision with an atom, a nucleus, or a particle or of the emission of a particle.
noun
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an act of recoiling.
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the distance through which a weapon moves backward after discharging.
verb
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to jerk back, as from an impact or violent thrust
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(often foll by from) to draw back in fear, horror, or disgust
to recoil from the sight of blood
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to go wrong, esp so as to hurt the perpetrator
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(of a nucleus, atom, molecule, or elementary particle) to change momentum as a result of the emission of a photon or particle
noun
-
-
the backward movement of a gun when fired
-
the distance moved
-
-
the motion acquired by a particle as a result of its emission of a photon or other particle
-
the act of recoiling
Synonym Usage
See wince 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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recoilsimple
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recoilssimple
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have recoiledperfect
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has recoiledperfect
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am recoilingprogressive
-
are recoilingprogressive
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is recoilingprogressive
-
have been recoilingperfect progressive
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has been recoilingperfect progressive
Past
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recoiledsimple
-
had recoiledperfect
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was recoilingprogressive
-
were recoilingprogressive
-
had been recoilingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of recoil
1175–1225; Middle English recoilen, reculen (v.) < Old French reculer, equivalent to re- re- + -culer, verbal derivative of cul rump, buttocks; see culet
Explanation
A recoil is a movement backwards, usually from some force or impact. The recoil of a gun is a backward movement caused by momentum. Your trip to the shooting range might make your mom recoil — from horror, not momentum. Recoil has both a verb and a noun form, meaning any kind of rebound or spring backwards. It doesn’t even have to be from an actual force. You might recoil when you see a snake, or recoil at the thought of having to eat squid. In those cases it’s more like a cringe or a flinch from something that’s scary, disgusting, or painful. Eating squid might in fact be all of those things to you.
Vocabulary lists containing recoil
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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:
Located well outside the galaxy's center, it could be a remnant of an earlier merger that was pushed outward by a powerful gravitational recoil.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 25, 2026
When she suggests an injured baseball player might pivot to another sport, some parents recoil.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
Such a request would usually make listeners recoil instinctively.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
Years have turned over since the social recoil of 2020.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Her hands find Madame’s face, and the old woman’s cheek is so hot that Marie-Laure’s fingers recoil as though scalded.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Having fashioned a creature from dead body parts, the scientist recoils from the result, which appears to him to be a monster of “unparalleled barbarity,” and abandons his construction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
He practices a politics of inspiration, and the Surge recoils at politicians who try to inspire us.
From Slate ● Apr. 5, 2025
Then, he recoils in disgust, a flyout that could have helped the Cubs reach the World Series infamously bouncing off the arms of Steve Bartman instead.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2023
"No. I can't believe this. No," Davis says, laughing with dumbfounded disbelief as she recoils.
From Salon ● Feb. 26, 2023
When she sees his number appear, she recoils, as if she’s just seen a poisonous creature.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
AI bellwethers like Korean and Japanese semiconductor plays recoiled as traders rotated into consumer and internet plays listed in Hong Kong and China.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026
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
Yet Edward soon recoiled from this facile conflation, transferring a year later, in 1900, to the New York School of Art.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
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
He recoiled, eyes flashing a hurt that almost made her sorry.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
"He's so scary!" says 16-year-old Skye, recoiling at the mention of the Cat in the Hat.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
But when the pressure heightens and matters boil over between the quartet, Wilde carefully examines the resulting eruption instead of recoiling.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
Americans are recoiling at rising restaurant and coffee prices and eating out less, making Starbucks’s turnaround more challenging.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2025
We’ll see if voters can reward this one while recoiling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2025
She pictured him puffing up the stairs, squeezing through the door, looking dis-approvingly at the clutter in their house, recoiling from Poppy’s sticky hands—no, it wouldn’t do.
From "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
