to push people away
8
5.6
- phrasal verb
:
alejar a la gente
- She realized that her harsh words would only push people away when she needed them most.
Number one, we run the risk of pushing people away when we over share.
- Number one, we run the risk of pushing people away when we over share.
- Why do I push people away when they get close?
- It just adds on shame and pushes people away.
- Nobody wants to be around a grumpy, sour person that pushes people away.
Examples
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I push people away by my intolerance of their flaws.
Blog text (24) -
Social media sites are more for friendly encounters, and using marketing talk will push people away.
Blog text (32) -
Why do I push people away when they get close?
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My problem is I push people away and then hate them for leaving.
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Number one, we run the risk of pushing people away when we over share.
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You can't keep pushing people away.
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Zoe, stop pushing people away.
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I push people away.
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Blaming natural disasters on people not only creates tension and feelings of anger, but actively pushes people away from your cause!
Blog text (15) -
I often push people away without meaning to, making it hard to keep friends.
Synonyms
123
6.7
To make someone feel alone and lose support from others
71
3.4
To force a person, animal, or feeling to go away
47
2.5
Make a person or animal go away because they are afraid
22
3.7
Make someone not want to do something
21
4.2
Make someone or something move back and stay away, often by using force
7
7.0
To make someone or something go away
2
7.5
Make someone feel distant from family or friends
1
8.3
To make someone stop feeling loyal to a leader or group
Antonyms
How Alienating
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to cause others to distance themselves' is directly inferable from the literal constituents 'push' + 'people' + 'away' — a straightforward extension of physical pushing to social behavior. This compositional, cross-linguistically common metaphor makes the expression readily understandable to a B1 learner who knows the component words.
Etymology
Push people away comes from the simple picture of physically pushing someone so they move away from you. So it means 'to make others avoid you or keep their distance', often without meaning to.