to repel
4
5.1
- verb
- /rɪˈpɛl/
- Her rude comments seemed to repel everyone she met at the party.
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Watch on YouTubeIf it's anger, that's going to repel a lot of people.
- If it's anger, that's going to repel a lot of people.
- Not only will it attract the right guys, but it will repel the wrong guys.
- But they've gone so far down that road now that they've begun to repel men of all races.
- And he says that people beautify what they love and death repels us.
- If this guy is just there for games, that is more likely to repel him.
- It should be something that repels you, not something that you grab onto.
- You are learning what excites people, what triggers their level of fascination, what would repel them and repulse them.
- So incentives, rewards, they pull us, they propel us towards something, but punishments repel us, they push us away from things, right.
- You know, while while he's he's happy to see her, her development, he's also repelled by it.
- And also, you know what it has done too is it's actually repelled energy vampires who are no longer here.
- I always want to default to the things that compel me rather than the things that repel me.
- Just like when we dissolve away things like I'm attracted to this and I'm repelled by that, I naturally understand this thing.
- An approach that repels and alienates voters far more than it appeals to or persuades them, goes on to say.
- Some of your flaws are the exact thing that repels the kind of people you want to attract them to your life.
- And what happens is you start to repel the world when you say one thing and you cannot keep your word.
Examples
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If it's anger, that's going to repel a lot of people.
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I think there must be something about me that repels people.
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Do my looks repel you?
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Not only will it attract the right guys, but it will repel the wrong guys.
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And as I have pointed out, your marketing techniques actively repel much of your potential client base.
Blog text (11) -
I am beginning to repel people I'm trying to seduce.
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The argument is that the elevator guy's actions repel a lot of women from attending conferences.
Blog text (32) -
In practice, however, courses about class and power usually attract radical teachers and repel moderates.
Academic text (1991) -
Camera in hand, Carrie begins to move about, despite the fact that this place repels her.
Fiction book (1993) -
The Taliban cannot win in Afghanistan; their terror tactics and memories of the "black years" repel most Afghans.
Academic text (2008)
Synonyms
104
4.4
To make someone feel strong dislike
44
2.1
To make someone feel strong dislike and sick because something is offensive
32
4.3
Make someone feel disgusted or shocked by bad actions
31
7.3
Make someone feel disgusted or sick
26
6.7
To make someone feel strong dislike or disgust
13
4.3
Make someone feel very shocked, afraid, or disgusted
10
7.4
Cause a strong feeling of fear or disgust with a creepy physical feeling
4
5.3
Make someone feel strong disgust or moral horror
1
7.3
Make people feel strong disgust or moral upset
1
9.3
Make someone feel sudden shock or disgust
Antonyms
Phrasal Verbs
How Disgusted
Surface Forms
Morphology
repel = re + pel
The emotional sense 'cause aversion' is a semantic extension of 'drive back' but the non-productive root 'pel' prevents learners from transparently deriving this meaning.
Etymology
Repel comes from the same Latin parts re- 'back' and pellere 'to drive'. A helpful way to remember this sense is to think of something that 'pushes you back' inside, so a bad smell or rude behaviour can repel people by making them turn away.