repugnance
Americannoun
-
the state of being repugnant.
-
strong distaste, aversion, or objection; antipathy.
- Antonyms:
- liking, attraction
-
contradictoriness or inconsistency.
- Synonyms:
- irreconcilability, incompatibility, contrariety
- Antonyms:
- compatibility
Synonym Usage
See dislike.
Etymology
Origin of repugnance
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French < Latin repugnantia, equivalent to repugn ( āre ) to repugn + -antia -ance
Explanation
Repugnance means strong distaste for something. If you love animals, you probably feel repugnance for people who mistreat their horses. The word repugnance comes from Latin root words, re, meaning back, and pugnare, to fight. When we use repugnance, we don't just mean the feeling of fighting back or resisting, but also a feeling of horror or sickness that causes you to resist in the first place. If something grosses you out, you feel repugnance for it. Repugnance can also express a feeling of moral horror: you probably feel repugnance at photographs of torture.
Vocabulary lists containing repugnance
Emotions on Display
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Frankenstein
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Treasure Island
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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.
Repugnance, he laments, tilts the political playing field against ideas that unlock the gains from trade.
From Economist • Feb. 22, 2018
Dowling raised it to a maturity rite by pronouncing as follows: "Repugnance to tax collectors is a persistent infantilism."
From Time Magazine Archive
Repugnance at having to be chief actor in this funeral pomp was clearly written on his pale face.
From Royal Highness by Mann, Thomas
Repugnance, dread, scruples—these were dim as remembered pains, while she was already tasting relief under the immediate pain of hopelessness.
From Daniel Deronda by Eliot, George
Repugnance to American tendencies and influences had a strong representation in the Curia and in powerful circles in Rome.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 2 "Hearing" to "Helmond" by Various
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.
