Word.ws English Dictionary

repulsive

/ɹɪˈpʌlsɪv/

repulsive adjective: tending to rouse aversion or to repulse; disgusting.

Adjective

repulsive (comparative more repulsive, superlative most repulsive)

  1. Tending to rouse aversion or to repulse; disgusting.
    • a repulsive smell
    • The problem is to strike a balance between, on the one hand, the harsh poverty which still dominated the lives of most working folk, the repulsive physical environment and the moral void which surrounded so many of them, and, on the other, the undoubted general improvement of their conditions and...1975, Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Capital. 1848-1875, published 1995, page 267
  2. Having the capacity to repel.
  3. Cold; reserved; forbidding.

repulsive meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam

repulsive in Hindi

repulsive, causing repulsion
प्रतिकर्षी pratikarṣī
repulsive, unappetising
अरुचिकर arucikar

repulsive in Tamil

மறுதலிக்கின்ற, வெறுத்தொதுக்கின்ற, வெறுத்தொதுக்குகிற, வெறுப்பூட்டுகிற

repulsive in Bengali

ঘৃণ্য, আকর্ষণহীন

repulsive in Malayalam

അസഹ്യ, തടുക്കുന്ന, എതിർക്കുന്ന
More languagesFewer languages
repulsive in Kannada
ಹೇವರಿಕೆಯ, ಹಿಮ್ಮೆಟ್ಟಿಸುವ, ಹೇಸಿಕೆಯ, ಅಸಹ್ಯವಾದ

Examples of repulsive in a sentence

  • An article is not obscene simply because it is repulsive or filthy.
  • You repulsive vermin, come down here so I can bash in your head!"
  • Not a repulsive scroungy cat like Jenny's, but an elegant Abyssinian.

All 28 example sentences with repulsive

Synonyms of repulsive

Antonyms

Forms of repulsive

comparativemore repulsive
superlativemost repulsive

Origin of repulsive

Borrowed from Middle French repulsif, from Medieval Latin repulsivus, from Latin repulsus. By surface analysis, repuls(e) + -ive. Compare typologically Polish odpychający (< pchnąć), Russian отта́лкивающий (ottálkivajuščij) (< толкну́ть (tolknútʹ)).

Words formed from repulsive

Questions about repulsive

What does repulsive mean?
Repulsive means tending to rouse aversion or to repulse; disgusting.
What is repulsive in Hindi?
Repulsive in Hindi is प्रतिकर्षी (pratikarṣī), अरुचिकर (arucikar). See Repulsive meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is repulsive?
Repulsive is an adjective.
How do you pronounce repulsive?
Repulsive is pronounced /ɹɪˈpʌlsɪv/.

Words near repulsive in the dictionary

  1. repulsingly
  2. repulsion
  3. repulsion motor
  4. repulsion motors
  5. repulsions
  6. repulsive
  7. repulsively
  8. repulsiveness
  9. repulsivenesses
  10. repulson
  11. repulsons

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: repulsive (page history and authors); अरुचिकर (Hindi) (page history and authors); repulsive (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); repulsive (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); repulsive (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); repulsive (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-repulsive.wav.

Cite this entry: “repulsive.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/repulsive. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.