repulsion
/rɪˈpʌlʃ(ə)n
/noun [mass noun]
1A feeling of intense distaste or disgust: people talk about the case with a mixture of fascination and repulsion...
- I think we have to distinguish those narratives which crudely manipulate fear or repulsion and disgust from that which Lovecraft correctly calls ‘the weird tale’.
- The mixture of repulsion, fear, fascination, and reassurance conjured up by Moki Snake Dance speaks to both the voyeuristic appeal of the ceremony and the comforting distance provided spectators by the moving picture apparatus.
- As an object of fascination and repulsion to the two men who represent the center of authority in their respective narratives, Carmen spells a threatening other, a dark figure that resists assimilation and endangers masculine power.
Synonyms
disgust, revulsion, abhorrence, repugnance, nausea, loathing, horror, hatred, detestation, aversion, abomination, distaste, antipathy, dislike, contempt, odium
informal yuck factor
archaic disrelish
rare repellency, repellence
2 Physics A force under the influence of which objects tend to move away from each other, e.g. through having the same magnetic polarity or electric charge: bond lengths are increased due to increasing repulsion between the atoms...
- Second, the sociological notion of a ‘field’ also evokes physics, which identifies vectors of attraction and repulsion associated with forces in a magnetic field.
- Scientists suggest electrostatic repulsion between ring particles may play a role, perhaps levitating finer particles above the main ring structure.
- The film details the dynamics of both their attraction to and repulsion from one another with an unusual degree of sensitivity.
