Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To drive back; repel.
- v. To rebuff or reject with rudeness, coldness, or denial.
- v. Usage Problem To cause repugnance or distaste in.
- n. The act of repulsing or the state of being repulsed.
- n. Rejection; refusal.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To beat or drive back; repel: as, to repulse an assailant or advancing enemy.
- To refuse; reject.
- n. The act of repelling or driving back.
- n. The condition of being repelled; the state of being checked in advancing, or driven back by force.
- n. Refusal; denial.
Wiktionary
- v. to repel or drive back
- v. to reject or rebuff
- v. to cause revulsion
- n. the act of repulsing or the state of being repulsed
- n. refusal, rejection or repulsion
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To repel; to beat or drive back
- v. To repel by discourtesy, coldness, or denial; to reject; to send away.
- n. The act of repelling or driving back; also, the state of being repelled or driven back.
- n. Figuratively: Refusal; denial; rejection; failure.
WordNet 3.0
- v. be repellent to; cause aversion in
- n. an instance of driving away or warding off
- v. cause to move back by force or influence
- v. force or drive back
Etymologies
- From Latin repellere ("to drive back"), from re- ("back") + pellere ("to drive"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English repulsen, from Latin repellere, repuls-; see repel. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Now and then, volleys of musketry, or a repulse from the Southern batteries on the heights, filled the blue morning sky with belching scarlet flame and smoke: through all, however, the long train of army-wagons passed over the pontoon-bridge, bearing the wounded.”
“The great battle of Fredericksburg, in which the Federal armies sustained a disastrous repulse, is described in the Supplement, page”
“The first intimation he had of a repulse was the trembling of Rachel's arm in his.”
“Blücher was compelled to give ground, and his repulse was the signal for a general Allied retreat.”
“To him a repulse was the starting point of a new attempt.”
“The first intimation he had of a repulse was the trembling of”
“I enclose to you with Mr. Mathews's attack and Brother Dougharty's repulse, which is all the newspaper work we have had.”
“Their repulse was a bitter humiliation to the _parvenue_ Empress, whose resentment took the form (along with many other curious results) of opening the present Boulevard St. Germain, its line being intentionally carried through the heart of that quarter, teeming with historic "Hotels" of the old aristocracy, where beautiful constructions were mercilessly torn down to make way for the new avenue.”
“To a young man possessed of excessive vanity, the repulse was the more humiliating in proportion to its publicity.”
The Emigrants Of Ahadarra The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two
“A repulse was a sure defeat; and a defeat was most commonly total destruction.”
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 1
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘repulse’.
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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List 2(starting at 260)
mammoth, overt, valor, aspire, relegate, bias, incisive, scurry, precipitate, singular, inveigh, repulse and 48 more...
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GRE 1100
drudgery, implore, hapless, nuance, wrest, incipient, inadvertent, tremulous, bristle, euphemism, disdain, pugnacious and 346 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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1100 words you need to know
GRE words
voracious, indiscriminate, replete, steeped, eminent, perceive, intrepid, compound, automaton, reticent, interminable, drudgery and 288 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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G & G
GRE , GMAT , TOEFL , IELTS , SAT 。。。
alphabet soup, vernacular, aberrant, abeyance, abet, recant, contrite, reiterate, patois, skew, senate, deliberative and 179 more...
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Ships
All of which are mentioned in O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels, someplace or other. Most are British navy ships, some are French navy, and others aren't either one.
See also the list Sh...franklin, surprise, agamemnon, vanguard, truelove, minerva, diane, victory, sophie, cacafuego, euryalus, alastor and 382 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Prosie: The Crisis
By Thomas Paine. Published on December 23, 1776 (later published as The American Crisis). Posted here as excerpts, not in entirety.
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer s...unlamented, wretch, bawdy-houses, ravaged, slain, widow, orphan, terror, fleeing, shrieking, horrid, brutish and 40 more...
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bbagins's Words
prowess, melancholy, serendipity, canonical, wretch, surmise, satirical, petrify, enunciate, oxymoron, oxymoron, dolt and 87 more...
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SAT Words That Mean 'To Make Worse or...
A list of negative SAT words that mean 'to make worse or irritate.' Based on Gruber's SAT Word Master word list. Categorizing words can help you to memorize more effectively.
alienate, antagonize, contradict, dispute, fend off, embitter, estrange, incense, infuriate, nettle, oppugn, oppose and 4 more...
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