Word of the Day

: September 2, 2014

repugn

verb rih-PYOON

What It Means

: to contend against : oppose

repugn in Context

Over 450 students signed the petition repugning the school board's decision to fire the popular teacher.

"Still to come, bad blood between Bloom and Bieber. Will we ever know what happened when the movie star repugns the pop star?" - Lester Holt, NBC News Transcripts, August 2, 2014

Did You Know?

Repugn is a word that was relatively common in English in the 16th and 17th centuries. These days, however, English speakers are more likely to be familiar with one of its close relatives, namely, the adjective repugnant, which formerly meant "hostile" but today most commonly means "exciting distaste or aversion." The Latin root for both of these words is pugnare, meaning "to fight." Other English derivatives from this root are pugnacious, meaning "belligerent," and impugn, meaning "to assail with words or arguments." Even pungent is a relative of pugnare. Therefore, don’t try to repugn, or impugn for that matter, the influence of pugnare on our language-lest you appear pugnacious!