repulse
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
-
to drive back or ward off (an attacking force); repel; rebuff
-
to reject with coldness or discourtesy
she repulsed his advances
-
to produce a feeling of aversion or distaste
noun
-
the act or an instance of driving back or warding off; rebuff
-
a cold discourteous rejection or refusal
Usage
Some people think that the use of repulse in sentences such as he was repulsed by what he saw is incorrect and that the correct word is repel
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
repulsesimple
-
repulsessimple
-
have repulsedperfect
-
has repulsedperfect
-
am repulsingprogressive
-
are repulsingprogressive
-
is repulsingprogressive
-
have been repulsingperfect progressive
-
has been repulsingperfect progressive
Past
-
repulsedsimple
-
had repulsedperfect
-
was repulsingprogressive
-
were repulsingprogressive
-
had been repulsingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of repulse
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin repulsus, past participle of repellere to repel
Explanation
To repulse something is to repel it or drive it back. When you repulse your sister, you disgust her. When you repulse the enemy in battle or someone in conversation, you force them back or make them turn away. Repulse is related to the word repel, and they mean similar things: to repulse an advance — romantic or warring — is to repel, or fend off, its advance. To repulse someone by being disgusting is to be repellent. You could repulse a person's attempts at conversation if you repulse him by picking your nose. Repulse is now most frequently used in the gross-out sense, but Jane Austin often had her characters repulse each others’ attempts at conversation or civility.
Vocabulary lists containing repulse
Lesson 1
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"The Crisis," Vocabulary from the essay
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
Aristotle recognized that we take pleasure in viewing fictional representations of tragedies, suffering and mutilated corpses that would repulse us if we confronted them in reality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026
Now he dresses as if he looks in his closet, asks what would most repulse women, and throws that on to speak in public.
From Salon ● Mar. 24, 2025
TAIPEI, Taiwan — When Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky called in February for foreign volunteers to help repulse invading Russian forces, Chuang Yu-wei, a Taiwanese tour guide, signed up the next day.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 3, 2022
In an update posted on social media, U.K. officials say that “despite heavy fighting, Ukrainian forces continue to repulse Russian attempts to occupy” the city.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 22, 2022
According to one source, he also pivoted north in time to repulse a Seleucid counterattack against Egypt.
From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro
"Actually, the idea of wearing it repulses me, I don't even take my old ones out of my drawer. It's a shame, because the shirt itself is gorgeous."
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2022
But you never, ever have any obligation to go out with someone who repulses you in any way.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2021
But this very unnaturalness terrifies and repulses others.
From Nature ● Jul. 24, 2018
But for many cultures, the thought of eating another human repulses us so greatly; it can be hard to imagine our ancestors might have consumed a relative out of respect, she says.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 11, 2017
But while Thomas’s touch now repulses me, I feel no revulsion toward Day.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
Mr. Lewis is alternately magnetized and repulsed by Sellers and goes to exhaustive lengths to comprehend him, eventually resorting to quoting Sellers—a believer in the power of the Ouija board—via a spiritual medium.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
Initially repulsed by her new housemate, a closer relationship gradually develops between the two women.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2025
There were those repulsed by the kind of language parodied in these books, and those who forced everyone else to speak this way.
From Slate ● Jan. 5, 2025
Los Angeles has been a character in so much of my music because I’m both attracted and repulsed by it.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2024
Now, even the sight of his hands repulsed me.
From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely
This ion is pushed out of the crystal by the repulsing forces of the nearby Li+ ions.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2023
Staufenbiel was at his best when it came to illuminating the emotional energies attracting or repulsing these characters.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 14, 2023
A key condition for success in repulsing the Chinese attack is that Taiwan’s government and military must successfully resist and not surrender.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 9, 2023
Speaking on the phone from Kyiv, Mr Zhorin said the roughly 1,000 Ukrainian defenders left in the works have been fighting in "360 degrees for more than one month", repulsing attacks from all angles.
From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2022
And we were careful not to touch, so careful it felt like some repulsing magnetic field had settled between us.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
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.