Word
repugnant
Phoneticsre·pug·nant
US/ɹiˈpəɡnənt/
UK/ɹɪpˈʌɡnənt/
Definition
adj. causing a strong feeling of disgust or hatred. You use this to describe something that is so bad or offensive that you cannot stand it.
adj. causing a strong feeling of disgust, hatred, or moral revulsion. Often used in legal or formal contexts to describe evidence or behavior that is so offensive it cannot be ignored.
Examples
“The smell of the old trash was absolutely repugnant.”
“The judge dismissed the evidence as repugnant to the principles of justice and ordered a new trial.”
“The defendant's testimony was so repugnant to the jury that they were forced to take a break to avoid being influenced by the emotional weight of the statements.”
Examples
simple
“The smell of the old trash was absolutely repugnant.”
contextual
“The judge dismissed the evidence as repugnant to the principles of justice and ordered a new trial.”
complex
“The defendant's testimony was so repugnant to the jury that they were forced to take a break to avoid being influenced by the emotional weight of the statements.”
Real-World Examples
“Meanwhile, a competition to make the festival cake is won, inexplicably, by Mitzi Blinkhorn, a cartoonish ghoul in costume jewellery whose cake is repugnant.” “On a packed train, we often find being squashed up against other human bodies repugnant, but not so when we are at a music festival.” Etymology
From Middle English repugnaunt, from Old French repugnant, borrowed from Latin repugnans, present participle of repugnare (“to oppose, to fight against”), from re- (“back, against”) + pugnare (“to fight”); see pugnacious.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Domain
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/repugnant