Synonyms & Antonyms for repulse

Synonyms: Verb

Synonyms: Noun

Antonyms: Noun

Examples of repulse in a Sentence

Verb The troops repulsed the attack. I was repulsed by the movie's violence. The moldy bread repulsed him. He repulsed all attempts to help him. Noun the waiter's incredibly rude repulse of our polite request for a better table—one that wasn't right next to the kitchen—prompted us to walk out

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb The pandemic in 2020 has held a mirror to Christianity, just as the epidemics of antiquity did, but today’s reflection carries the potential to repulse rather than attract. — Michael Luo, The New Yorker, "An Advent Lament in the Pandemic," 20 Dec. 2020 Michael Bloomberg, then mayor of the Big Apple, commissioned McKinsey to study how his city could repulse the attack in 2007. — The Economist, "Financial services What Brexit will do to the City of London," 24 Oct. 2020 For example, the odor of a strong-smelling food could remind one sniffer of family and home—and repulse another who has never encountered it. — Popular Science, "What Makes Things Stink?," 18 Sep. 2020 We are completely repulsed by the actions of these individuals and offer our support of those who were subject to or in any way impacted by it. — Tanya A. Christian, Essence, "White Supremacists Hack Virtual Social Gathering For Black Students," 27 Apr. 2020 In 1916, during World War I, the 10-month Battle of Verdun ended with French troops succeeding in repulsing a major German offensive. — BostonGlobe.com, "You're using a browser set to private or incognito mode.," 19 Dec. 2019 In 1896 Ethiopian forces had repulsed Italian invaders at the Battle of Adwa. — Colin Grant, The New York Review of Books, "The Women’s War," 8 Apr. 2020 The Confederates, who had been entrenched, repulsed the first assault here but withdrew after another day of fighting. — John Hanc, New York Times, "Where Civil War Soldiers Will March Again," 9 Mar. 2020 In fact, the U.S. military and its South Vietnamese allies were winning at the tactical level, repulsing the attacks, killing tens of thousands of Viet Cong fighters. — Joel Achenbach, Washington Post, "Did the news media, led by Walter Cronkite, lose the war in Vietnam?," 25 May 2018 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Stories about chemical and biological weapons are often oversold, for the same reason stories of cannibalistic serial killers are: Peculiar forms of murder repulse and excite us, and old-fashioned forms do not. — Washington Post, "What Assad’s chemical weapons really accomplished," 19 Feb. 2021 Yet Mr Trump’s decision to change course represents neither a disastrous retreat nor a major moral repulse. — The Economist, "A blot against America," 23 June 2018 After another great inwash of Hispanics, peaking during the late 1990s at around 750,000 arrivals a year, a repulse was inevitable. — The Economist, "LexingtonHostility to immigration used to be found in both parties," 18 Jan. 2018 Fog stalled airborne reinforcements to British forces at Arnhem in 1944, contributing to the German repulse of a major Allied initiative. — Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, "The Deadly Cost of Mutual Misunderstanding," 18 Oct. 2017 Valerian wheezes to a close and then gives us a sloppy, oafish grin, one that, much like an ugly dog, both endears and repulses. — Jillian Selzer, Cosmopolitan, "The 12 Meanest Things Critics Are Saying About Valerian," 24 July 2017 Valerian wheezes to a close and then gives us a sloppy, oafish grin, one that, much like an ugly dog, both endears and repulses. — Jillian Selzer, Cosmopolitan, "The 12 Meanest Things Critics Are Saying About Valerian," 24 July 2017 Valerian wheezes to a close and then gives us a sloppy, oafish grin, one that, much like an ugly dog, both endears and repulses. — Richard Lawson, HWD, "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Is an Endearing, Eye-Popping Mess," 18 July 2017 Valerian wheezes to a close and then gives us a sloppy, oafish grin, one that, much like an ugly dog, both endears and repulses. — Richard Lawson, vanityfair.com, "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Is an Endearing, Eye-Popping Mess," 18 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'repulse.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for repulse

Verb

Middle English repulsen "to hold back, drive away," probably in part borrowed from Latin repulsus, past participle of repellere "to push away, drive back, fend off," in part borrowed from Middle French repulser "to drive back, put an end to," borrowed from Latin repulsāre "to drive back, repudiate," frequentative of repellere — more at repel

Noun

borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French, "action of pushing back, rejection," borrowed in part from Latin repulsa "electoral defeat, check, rebuff" (noun derivative from feminine of repulsus, past participle of repellere "to push away, drive back, fend off"), in part from repulsus "action of forcing back," verbal noun from repellere — more at repel

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