Library / English Dictionary

REPULSE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An instance of driving away or warding off

Synonyms:

rebuff; repulse; snub

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("repulse" is a kind of...):

rejection (the speech act of rejecting)

Derivation:

repulse (force or drive back)

repulse (cause to move back by force or influence)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Force or drive back

Example:

rebuff the attack

Synonyms:

drive back; fight off; rebuff; repel; repulse

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "repulse" is one way to...):

defend; fight; fight back; fight down; oppose (fight against or resist strongly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

repulse (an instance of driving away or warding off)

repulsion (the act of repulsing or repelling an attack; a successful defensive stand)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to move back by force or influence

Example:

beat back the invaders

Synonyms:

beat back; drive; force back; push back; repel; repulse

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "repulse" is one way to...):

force; push (move with force)

Verb group:

drive (cause to move rapidly by striking or throwing with force)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something from somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

repulse (an instance of driving away or warding off)

repulsion (the act of repulsing or repelling an attack; a successful defensive stand)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be repellent to; cause aversion in

Synonyms:

repel; repulse

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "repulse" is one way to...):

displease (give displeasure to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "repulse"):

churn up; disgust; nauseate; revolt; sicken (cause aversion in; offend the moral sense of)

put off; turn off (cause to feel intense dislike or distaste)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The performance is likely to repulse Sue

Credits

 Context examples: 

They repulsed every attempt of Mrs. Bennet at conversation, and by so doing threw a languor over the whole party, which was very little relieved by the long speeches of Mr. Collins, who was complimenting Mr. Bingley and his sisters on the elegance of their entertainment, and the hospitality and politeness which had marked their behaviour to their guests.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

This study using the great tit species as a “model predator” has shown that if one bird observes another being repulsed by a new type of prey, then both birds learn the lesson to stay away.

(Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours, University of Cambridge)

Amy was much offended that her overtures of peace had been repulsed, and began to wish she had not humbled herself, to feel more injured than ever, and to plume herself on her superior virtue in a way which was particularly exasperating.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

For a day or two after the affront was given, Henry Crawford had endeavoured to do it away by the usual attack of gallantry and compliment, but he had not cared enough about it to persevere against a few repulses; and becoming soon too busy with his play to have time for more than one flirtation, he grew indifferent to the quarrel, or rather thought it a lucky occurrence, as quietly putting an end to what might ere long have raised expectations in more than Mrs. Grant.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

And in his large, easy way, desirous of not inflicting hurt, knowing that to repulse this proffer of herself was to inflict the most grievous hurt a woman could receive, he folded his arms around her and held her close.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

She could but refuse me, and better be a repulsed lover than an accepted brother.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This morning, when I went to see him after his repulse of Van Helsing, his manner was that of a man commanding destiny.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Willingly would I now have gone and asked Mrs. Reed's pardon; but I knew, partly from experience and partly from instinct, that was the way to make her repulse me with double scorn, thereby re-exciting every turbulent impulse of my nature.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He repulsed her.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Fanny, meanwhile, vexed with herself for not having been as motionless as she was speechless, and grieved to the heart to see Edmund's arrangements, was trying by everything in the power of her modest, gentle nature, to repulse Mr. Crawford, and avoid both his looks and inquiries; and he, unrepulsable, was persisting in both.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)