- 1causing a feeling of strong dislike; very unpleasant synonym disgusting a repulsive sight/smell/habit What a repulsive man! synonyms at disgusting Oxford Collocations Dictionary verbsbe, look, seem, … adverbextremely, fairly, very, … prepositionto See full entry See related entries: Attractiveness
- 2(physics) causing repulsion (= a force that pushes away) repulsive forces Word Originlate Middle English: from French répulsif, or from , -ive, from repellere ‘drive back’, from re- ‘back’ + pellere ‘to drive’.Extra examples She found the idea deeply repulsive. The very thought seems repulsive. He found her habits quite repulsive. What a repulsive person!
repulsive
adjectiveBrE BrE//rɪˈpʌlsɪv//; NAmE NAmE//rɪˈpʌlsɪv//
AttractivenessCheck pronunciation: repulsive