revulsion
noun/ɹɪˈvʌlʃən/ · /ɹəˈvʌlʃən/
Etymology Partly from Middle French révulsion and partly from Latin revulsiō.
1
Usually Abhorrence, a sense of loathing, intense aversion, repugnance, repulsion, horror.
2
Usually A sudden violent feeling of disgust.
3
Medicine, Sciences Usually The treatment of one diseased area by acting elsewhere; counterirritation.
4
Obsolete, Usually A strong pulling or drawing back; withdrawal.
- To run on in deſpight of the Revulſions and Pul-backs of ſuch Remora’s aggravates our tranſgreſſions.c. 1670s (date written), Thomas Brown [i.e., Thomas Browne], “Sect[ion] X”, in John Jeffery, editor, Christian Morals, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] [A]t the University-Press, for Cornelius Crownfield printer to the University; and are to be sold by Mr. Knapton […]; and Mr. [John] Morphew […], published 1716, →OCLC, part III, page 91:
- The recent financial revulsion has revealed the feeble basis on which credit now stands, […]1858, “Our Window”, in Emerson's Magazine and Putnam's Monthly, volume 6, page 329, column 1:
5
Obsolete, Usually A sudden reaction; a sudden and complete change of the feelings.
- We resolve, and our resolutions melt away with a word and a look: we are the toys of an emotion. And yet I think Norbourne was right in his sudden revulsion in favour of his uncle. We are rarely wrong when we act from impulse.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Result”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 234:
- A sudden and violent revulsion of feeling, both in the parliament and in the country, followed.1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, pages 108–109:
- Related terms
- revulsive