repulse
Syllables: re·pulse/ɹɪˈpʌls/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ɹɪˈpɐls/
repulse verb: to repel or drive back.
Verb
repulse (third-person singular simple present repulses, present participle repulsing, simple past and past participle repulsed)
- 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?1939 December 5, J. W. Studebaker, Democracy Shall Not Be Plowed Under, page 9
- 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.1850, T. S. Arthur, “Happy on a Little”, in Sketches of Life and Character, Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, →OCLC, page 89
- 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.
Noun
repulse (plural repulses)
repulse meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
repulse in Tamil
- ஏற்க மறுத்து பதிலடி கொடுத்தல்
repulse in Urdu
- انکار, جھڑکی, شکست, پسپا کرنا, پیچھے دھکیلنا
repulse in Bengali
- প্রতিরোধ করা, পিছিয়ে দেওয়া
repulse in Malayalam
- തടുക്കുക, നിരസിക്കുക, വെറുപ്പു സമ്പാദിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- repulse in Kannada
- ಹಿಮ್ಮೆಟ್ಟಿಸು, ತಳ್ಳು, ಅಲ್ಲಗಳೆ, ಜುಗುಪ್ಸೆ ಹುಟ್ಟಿಸು
Examples of repulse in a sentence
- Repulse combed the torpedo wakes and knocked down two of the attackers.
- Enemy attempts to land on the south shore of Tungting Lake again were repulsed.
- But the lout looked only to his market, and was not easily repulsed.
Forms of repulse
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | repulses |
| present participle | repulsing |
| past participle | repulsed |
| past | repulsed |
| Noun | |
| plural | repulses |
Origin of repulse
Inherited from Middle English repulsen, a learned borrowing from Latin repulsus, from repellō. 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.
Inherited from Middle English repulse, borrowed from Old French repulse, from Latin repulsa (petītiō), from repellō.
Words formed from repulse
Phrases with repulse
Words that rhyme with repulse
Questions about repulse
- What does repulse mean?
- Repulse means to repel or drive back.
- What is repulse in Tamil?
- Repulse in Tamil is ஏற்க மறுத்து பதிலடி கொடுத்தல். See Repulse meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is repulse?
- Repulse can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce repulse?
- Repulse is pronounced /ɹɪˈpʌls/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of repulse?
- The past tense of repulse is repulsed.
Words near repulse in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: repulse (page history and authors); repulse (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); repulse (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); repulse (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); repulse (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); repulse (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-repulse.wav.
Cite this entry: “repulse.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/repulse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.