repulse
/rɪˈpʌls
/verb [with object]
1Drive back (an attack or attacker) by force: rioters tried to storm the Ministry but were repulsed by police...
- It was due to the fact that the disastrous Dieppe Raid of 1942 had led the Wehrmacht's 302nd Infantry Division, which had repulsed the attack, to draw up a how-not-to manual of coastal landings.
- Against all odds, they succeeded first in repulsing the original attack and then in holding the enemy at bay for almost two weeks while being besieged without re-supply.
- The festival to the Lady of the Realm, so the accounts go, was inaugurated after she extended her protection to a Vietnamese general who was repulsing an attack by the Cambodian enemy.
Synonyms
repel, drive back, drive away, fight back, fight off, put to flight, force back, beat off, beat back, push back, thrust back;
ward off, hold off, stave off, fend off;
foil, check, frustrate;
British see off
informal send packing
archaic rebut
1.1Reject or rebuff (an approach or offer or the person making it): she left, feeling hurt because she had been repulsed...
- Lotus had been repulsed when the poor fool approached her to grab her colorful robe.
- She just wants me to humiliate myself by repulsing Charlie.
- Olumer stifled a groan and wondered how he had managed to attract her attention instead of repulsing her, which had been the general idea.
Synonyms
rebuff, reject, spurn, snub, disdain, give someone the cold shoulder, cold-shoulder
informal give someone the brush-off, freeze out, stiff-arm
British informal knock back
North American informal give someone the bum's rush, give someone the brush
Australian informal snout
informal, dated give someone the go-by
reject, turn down, refuse, decline, say no to
informal give the thumbs down to
2Cause to feel intense distaste and aversion: audiences were repulsed by the film’s brutality...
- Our analysis confirmed that many 1932 moviegoers were repulsed by the film, but whether that translated to even more negative attitudes toward people with disabilities is unclear.
- One is the audience of people who are obviously repulsed by these sort of images and people meant to be scared by it and that's the reason they're putting this tape up.
- I'm sure Straw Dogs is rather unpopular with the feminist community, and I find myself repulsed by the film for the same reason.
Synonyms
revolt, disgust, repel, sicken, nauseate, make someone feel sick, turn someone's stomach, be repulsive to, be extremely distasteful to, make shudder, be repugnant to, make someone's flesh creep, make someone's skin crawl, make someone's gorge rise, offend, horrify
informal turn off, give someone the creeps, make someone want to throw up
North American informal gross out
noun [mass noun]
1The action of driving back an attack or of being driven back: the repulse of the invaders
Synonyms
repelling, driving back, putting to flight;
warding off, holding off;
defeat, check, foiling, frustration
rare repulsion
1.1 [count noun] A discouraging response to an offer or approach: his evasion of her scheme had been another repulse
Synonyms
rebuff, rejection, snub, slight, repudiation, spurning, cold-shouldering, discouragement
informal brush-off, knock-back, kick in the teeth, slap/smack in the face, smack in the eye
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin repuls- 'driven back', from the verb repellere (see repel).