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Glite Dictionary
😱 To move back 🔫 A backward kick 💥 To backfire
to recoil

to recoil

1 7.0
To have an unexpected bad result for the person or group who started it
  • verb
  • /rɪˈkɔɪl/
translation icon : volverse en contra
  • His plan to cut costs seemed wise at first, but it started to recoil as profits dropped.
  • recoil at the idea
  • Many Americans recoil

Examples

  • I remove the rubber band and recoil.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • When her criticism of the team surfaced, it began to recoil and damage her relationship with her colleagues.

  • But if we recoil back, then at the end, we're going to have so many regrets.

  • There could only be one explanation for all of this, but his mind recoiled at the enormity of it all.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Even if you are pro-choice, you have to recoil this kind of celebration at what is indisputably the snuffing out of a young, beautiful life.

  • I am making no comment on her letter or the content thereof, but what I’m saying is that older folks do not understand that events like this, appearing to launch a "McCarthyite" witch hunt, make them recoil and disregard the entire conservative message.

    Blog text (16)

  • The negative consequences of their actions began to recoil on them, causing unexpected problems.

Synonyms

to backfire
vsto recoil
95 5.4

To have the opposite effect of what was intended, hurting the person who did it

is used for any action that causes unintended harm to its initiator
to backlash
vsto recoil
1 6.8

To have an unexpected negative result that hurts the person who did it

is broader and names any unintended negative effect on the person who started it

Antonyms

to succeed
846 2.0

To reach a goal after trying hard

Surface Forms

recoil infinitive
recoiled past
recoiled past participle
recoiling present participle
recoils third person singular

Etymology

Recoil also carries the idea of something turning 'back' on its maker, with re- meaning 'back' and the root meaning 'gather' or return. So when an action or plan recoils on you, it 'turns back' and harms you, in other words it backfires on you.