repugnant
Americanadjective
-
distasteful, objectionable, or offensive.
a repugnant smell.
-
making opposition; averse.
-
opposed or contrary, as in nature or character.
- Synonyms:
- hostile, adverse, antagonistic
adjective
-
repellent to the senses; causing aversion
-
distasteful; offensive; disgusting
-
contradictory; inconsistent or incompatible
Other Word Forms
- repugnance noun
- repugnantly adverb
- unrepugnant adjective
- unrepugnantly adverb
Etymology
Origin of repugnant
1350–1400; Middle English repugnaunt < Middle French < Latin repugnant- (stem of repugnāns, present participle of repugnāre ), equivalent to repugn ( āre ) to repugn + -ant- -ant
Explanation
Repugnant refers to something you detest so thoroughly it threatens to make you physically sick, like the idea of marrying your sister. Or wearing last year's jeans. A repugnant thing is a thing offensive, detestable, or obscene. It can be repugnant to your mind or your morals. It can also be physically repugnant, like the smell that comes from a restaurant’s dumpster, which hasn't been emptied since the very exciting "Omelet Week," way back at the beginning of August. Makes you want to "re-PLUG-nant" your nose!
Vocabulary lists containing repugnant
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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In the Mood? 100 Words to Describe Emotions
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for Middle School Students, List 6
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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.
But its ineffectual japing, and Michaels’ inability to help himself when it comes to normalizing repugnant behavior in the name of chasing the zeitgeist, makes it a popular stop on the image rehab express.
From Salon • Mar. 6, 2026
Members of the local Jewish community have strongly condemned her actions, with one of the people who challenged her at the time describing them as "morally repugnant".
From BBC • Oct. 14, 2025
Wambaugh’s characters were morally flexible, heroic, repugnant, compassionate, callous, deeply flawed, darkly comical — in a word, real.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2025
The courts really do have the power to examine a statute or a permit and say, No, this is repugnant to the constitution and must be set aside.
From Slate • Dec. 20, 2024
Some Chicagoans who had found slavery repugnant now shuddered at the prospect of free blacks surging in to take up residence in their city.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
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.
