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repellent

or re·pel·lant

[ri-pel-uhnt]

||

adjective

causing distaste or aversion; repulsive.

forcing or driving back.

serving or tending to ward off or drive away.

impervious or resistant to something (often used in combination): moth-repellant.

noun

something that repels, as a substance that keeps away insects.

a medicine that serves to prevent or reduce swellings, tumors, etc.

any of various durable or nondurable solutions applied to a fabric, garment, surface, etc., to increase its resistance, as to water, moths, mildew, etc.

Origin of repellent

1635–45; < Latin repellent- (stem of repellēns), present participle of repellere to drive back. See repel, -ent

Related formsre·pel·lent·ly, adverbin·ter·re·pel·lent, adjectivenon·re·pel·lent, adjectiveself-re·pel·lent, adjectiveun·re·pel·lent, adjectiveun·re·pel·lent·ly, adverb

Can be confusedrepellent repulsive

Synonyms for repellent

1. repugnant, disgusting, distasteful, loathsome.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for repellant

Contemporary Examples of repellant

Don abandons the mistress thing, which he knows is repellant, his wife tells him so.
‘Mad Men’: Matthew Weiner & Christina Hendricks on ‘The Other Woman,’ Part 1
Jace Lacob
August 7, 2012
I mean, did you ever meet anybody remotely like the repellant but inspiring Dr. Stone, who is the surgeon at the mission hospital?
A Novel That's the Best Medicine
Tina Brown
February 11, 2009

Historical Examples of repellant

With every day the wilderness was becoming more naked and stern and repellant.
Grit A-Plenty
Dillon Wallace
The repellant forces that kept him back, are "not far to seek."
The Philosophy of Natural Theology
William Jackson
Cornlie was glad to meet at the hotel a Dutch element that was not repellant.
The Law Inevitable
Louis Couperus
The words were civil enough, but the tone was brusque and repellant.
The Yellow House
E. Phillips Oppenheim
He was in such great and desperate earnest that he was not quite so repellant as usual.
A Plucky Girl
L. T. Meade

British Dictionary definitions for repellant

repellent

adjective

giving rise to disgust or aversion; distasteful or repulsive

driving or forcing away or back; repelling

noun Also: repellant

something, esp a chemical substance, that repelsinsect repellent

a substance with which fabrics are treated to increase their resistance to water

Derived Formsrepellence or repellency, nounrepellently, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for repellant

repellent

adj.

also repellant, 1640s, from Latin repellentem (nominative repelens), present participle of repellere (see repel). Originally of medicines (that reduced tumors); meaning "distasteful, disagreeable" first recorded 1797.

repellent

n.

also repellant, 1660s, "medicine that reduces tumors," from repellent (adj.). As "substance that repels insects," 1908.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

repellant in Medicine

repellent

[rĭ-pĕl′ənt]

adj.

Capable of driving off or repelling.

n.

A substance used to drive off or keep away insects.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.