repulsive
Americanadjective
-
causing repugnance or aversion.
a repulsive mask.
- Synonyms:
- distasteful, offensive, disgusting, loathsome
-
capable of causing repulsion; serving to repulse.
to present enough repulsive force to keep the enemy from daring to attack.
-
tending to drive away or keep at a distance; cold; forbidding.
arrogant, repulsive airs to frighten the timid.
-
Physics. of the nature of or characterized by physical repulsion.
adjective
-
causing or occasioning repugnance; loathsome; disgusting or distasteful
a repulsive sight
-
tending to repel, esp by coldness and discourtesy
-
physics concerned with, producing, or being a repulsion
Other Word Forms
- repulsively adverb
- repulsiveness noun
- self-repulsive adjective
- unrepulsive adjective
- unrepulsively adverb
- unrepulsiveness noun
Etymology
Origin of repulsive
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.
"Music festivals should be places where all communities feel welcome, not venues that platform individuals with records of profiteering from antisemitism, racism and other repulsive views."
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
Mr. Ireland indicates the uneven power dynamics involved when Leigh, though squirming at the idea, is needled into answering the same repulsive question, settling on Margaret Thatcher.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
It’s also a moment when exceptional, modern cooking would share a menu with “parsleyed ham in aspic” or something else that today’s diners would consider repulsive.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026
“And besides, the idea that a few will survive on Mars, while billions die on Earth is so morally repulsive that any programme foolish enough to adopt it would be doomed,” he wrote.
From Slate • Dec. 9, 2025
I grabbed the most repulsive one I could find, Annabeth snatched the boom box, and together we ran back outside.
From "The Sea of Monsters" by Rick Riordan
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.
