Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A sudden strong change or reaction in feeling, especially a feeling of violent disgust or loathing.
  • noun Archaic A withdrawing or turning away from something.
  • noun Medicine The reduction of superficial inflammation in an affected body part, as by topical agents, in order to decrease inflammation in adjacent structures.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of pulling or drawing away; abstraction; forced separation.
  • noun In medicine, the diminution of morbid action in one locality by developing it artificially in another, as by counter-irritation.
  • noun A sudden or violent change, particularly a change of feeling.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A strong pulling or drawing back; withdrawal.
  • noun A sudden reaction; a sudden and complete change; -- applied to the feelings.
  • noun (Med.) The act of turning or diverting any disease from one part of the body to another. It resembles derivation, but is usually applied to a more active form of counter irritation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun abhorrence, a sense of loathing, intense aversion, repugnance, repulsion, horror
  • noun A sudden violent feeling of disgust.
  • noun medicine The treatment of one diseased area by acting elsewhere; counterirritation.
  • noun obsolete A strong pulling or drawing back; withdrawal.
  • noun obsolete A sudden reaction; a sudden and complete change of the feelings.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun intense aversion

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin revulsiō, revulsiōn-, from revulsus, past participle of revellere, to tear back : re-, re- + vellere, to tear.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French révulsion, Latin revulsio.

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Examples

  • What about what you called the revulsion factor, that is the graphic ...

    CNN Transcript Mar 6, 2005 2005

  • You complain that you won't get a rational answer but you sound like one whose antipathy clouds all judgement, one whose revulsion is so extreme, their disgust so bound to fear and hate, that it manifests in outright delusion, in conspiracy theories of covert and overt ideological Powers-That-Be, Evil Forces aligned against all that is good and decent.

    An Open Letter to John C. Wright Hal Duncan 2009

  • You complain that you won't get a rational answer but you sound like one whose antipathy clouds all judgement, one whose revulsion is so extreme, their disgust so bound to fear and hate, that it manifests in outright delusion, in conspiracy theories of covert and overt ideological Powers-That-Be, Evil Forces aligned against all that is good and decent.

    Archive 2009-08-01 Hal Duncan 2009

  • I think the current trajectory, which has thinking persons of a centrist nature fleeing the GOP in revulsion of the Base, has just about run its course.

    House Democrats outraise GOP in August 2009

  • Oh wait, that particular revulsion is limited to the poor souls that get to pick up the pieces and smell the stentch of your destuction.

    Is Obama a Terrorist? « Antiwar.com Blog 2009

  • Ereshkigal gently pressed her flesh to his and he shuddered in revulsion and ecstasy.

    Conan Fan Fiction! Cromsblood 2009

  • Now in revulsion, the American people will solidify the Democrat majority.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Libertarianism, Federalism, and Racism 2010

  • Ereshkigal gently pressed her flesh to his and he shuddered in revulsion and ecstasy.

    Archive 2009-12-01 Reis O'Brien 2009

  • An Obama/Clinton ticket; the nation should recoil in revulsion at the thought of it.

    McAuliffe says Clinton staying in, will win popular vote 2008

  • But Lily hesitated to go; her whole body clenched in revulsion at the thought of leaving so soon.

    The Sisters and the Seeds « A Fly in Amber 2008

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