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repulse

verb
/ɹɪˈpʌls/

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin repulsus, from repellere (“to drive back”), from re- (“back”) + pellere (“to drive”). For spelling, as in pulse, the -e (on -lse) is so the end is pronounced /ls/, rather than /lz/ as in pulls, and does not change the vowel (‘u’). Compare else, false, convulse.

  1. borrowed from repulsus

Definitions

  1. To repel or drive back.

    • to repulse an assault; to repulse the enemy
    • If we fail to repulse the enemy within the gates--unemployment, poverty, disorganized agriculture and the like--from whence may we expect the united strength and clear purpose to repulse any outside force?

  2. To reject or rebuff.

    • to repulse a suitor
    • At the end of a week, she could bear the suspense no longer, and so went humbly to her old home and sought forgiveness. She was not repulsed, but her reception was cold; and this hurt her almost as badly.

  3. To cause revulsion in

    To cause revulsion in; to repel.

    • The smell of rotting food repulsed me.
    • I find your conduct reprehensible, disgusting, and it repulses me, the way a mongoose repulses a snake.
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. The act of repulsing or the state of being repulsed.

    2. Refusal, rejection or repulsion.

The neighborhood

Derived

chemorepulse, repulser, repulsor, repulsor beam

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at repulse. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01repulse02revulsion03treatment04illness05bad06incorrect07inappropriate08repulsive

A definitional loop anchored at repulse. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

8 hops · closes at repulse

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA