revulsion
Americannoun
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a strong feeling of repugnance, distaste, or dislike.
Cruelty fills me with revulsion.
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a sudden and violent change of feeling or response in sentiment, taste, etc.
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the act of drawing something back or away.
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the fact of being so drawn.
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Medicine/Medical. the diminution of morbid action in one part of the body by irritation in another.
noun
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a sudden and unpleasant violent reaction in feeling, esp one of extreme loathing
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the act or an instance of drawing back or recoiling from something
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obsolete the diversion of disease or congestion from one part of the body to another by cupping, counterirritants, etc
Other Word Forms
- revulsionary adjective
Etymology
Origin of revulsion
1535–45; < Latin revulsiōn- (stem of revulsiō ) a tearing away, equivalent to revuls ( us ) (past participle of revellere to tear away, equivalent to re- re- + vellere to pluck) + -iōn- -ion
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.
Several ads trafficked in revulsion as an attention-getter, none more so than this one for a body shaver featuring various clumps of removed body hair singing with their little hairy mouths.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 8, 2026
They were placed on remand until December 24 pending further investigations into the incident, which sparked widespread revulsion after the footage was shared on social media.
From Barron's • Dec. 18, 2025
One man, Garfield, has chosen virtue; another, Conkling, has chosen corruption; the third, Guiteau, has no real choice in the matter but keeps an audience teetering between pity and revulsion.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 6, 2025
"Any decent person... will experience shock, revulsion and incredulity."
From BBC • Oct. 11, 2025
Was this meant to excite me, or was it an unconscious expression of revulsion?
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
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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.