Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To drive back; repel.
- transitive verb To rebuff or reject with rudeness, coldness, or denial.
- transitive verb Usage Problem To cause repugnance or distaste in.
- noun The act of repulsing or the state of being repulsed.
- noun Rejection; refusal.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of repelling or driving back.
- noun The condition of being repelled; the state of being checked in advancing, or driven back by force.
- noun Refusal; denial.
- To beat or drive back; repel: as, to
repulse an assailant or advancing enemy. - To refuse; reject.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To repel; to beat or drive back
- transitive verb To repel by discourtesy, coldness, or denial; to reject; to send away.
- noun The act of repelling or driving back; also, the state of being repelled or driven back.
- noun Figuratively: Refusal; denial; rejection; failure.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb to
repel or drive back - verb to
reject orrebuff - verb to cause
revulsion - noun the act of
repulsing or the state of beingrepulsed - noun
refusal ,rejection orrepulsion
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb be repellent to; cause aversion in
- noun an instance of driving away or warding off
- verb cause to move back by force or influence
- verb force or drive back
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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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.
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The great battle of Fredericksburg, in which the Federal armies sustained a disastrous repulse, is described in the Supplement, page
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The first intimation he had of a repulse was the trembling of Rachel's arm in his.
Archive 2008-06-01 2008
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The first intimation he had of a repulse was the trembling of Rachel's arm in his.
Sheldonism 2008
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Blücher was compelled to give ground, and his repulse was the signal for a general Allied retreat.
THE CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON DAVID G. CHANDLER 1966
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Blücher was compelled to give ground, and his repulse was the signal for a general Allied retreat.
THE CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON DAVID G. CHANDLER 1966
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To him a repulse was the starting point of a new attempt.
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The first intimation he had of a repulse was the trembling of
In His Steps Charles Monroe Sheldon 1901
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I enclose to you with Mr. Mathews's attack and Brother Dougharty's repulse, which is all the newspaper work we have had.
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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.
Worldly Ways and Byways Eliot Gregory 1884
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