repulse

Plural: repulses

Noun

an instance of driving away or warding off
the act of repulsing or the state of being repulsed
refusal, rejection or repulsion

Verb

Verb Forms: repulsed, repulsing, repulses

To drive back an attack or advance; to repel.
force or drive back
be repellent to; cause aversion in
cause to move back by force or influence
To repel or drive back.
To reject or rebuff.
To cause revulsion in; to repel.

Examples

I find your conduct reprehensible, disgusting, and it repulses me, the way a mongoose repulses a snake.
She managed to repulse her opponent’s attempt to block her bingo path.
The smell of rotting food repulsed me.

Origin / 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.

Synonyms

beat back, drive, drive back, fight off, force back, push back, rebuff, repel, snub

Antonyms

attract

Scrabble Score: 9

repulse: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
repulse: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
repulse: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

repulse: valid Words With Friends Word