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.
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
Washington, by contrast, recoiled at the very notion of monarchy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 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
As an unknown theater actor, Reiner recoiled when strangers pegged him merely as “Carl Reiner’s son.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2025
Gabe had recoiled in horror when Jonas had related Einars terrible history to him.
From "Son" by Lois Lowry
