From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrepulsere‧pulse /rɪˈpʌls/ verb [transitive] formal 1 UNPLEASANTif something or someone repulses you, you think that they are extremely unpleasant SYN disgust The very thought of his cold clammy hands repulsed me.2 PMDto fight someone and successfully stop their attack on you Government troops repulsed an attack by rebel forces.3 to refuse an offer of friendship or help in a way that is rude —repulse noun [singular]→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
repulse• A disorganized attack was mounted and repulsed.• On 21 January the Communists numbering up to 3000 made another assault on the Secretariat and were again repulsed.• Instead he was extremely magnanimous towards Anna which irritated her further, and made her repulsed by everything to do with him.• What scars deformed him, so that even you, who stand for him in the courtroom, are repulsed by him?• He was repulsed by the scramble of images in her mind.Origin repulse (1500-1600) Latin past participle of repellere; → REPEL 