repellent

English

Alternative forms

• repellant

Etymology

From Latin repellēns. Equivalent to repel +‎ -ent.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹəˈpɛlənt/, /ɹɪˈpɛlənt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɹəˈpɛlənt/, /ɹiˈpɛlənt/

Adjective

repellent (comparative more repellent, superlative most repellent)

1. Repulsive, inspiring aversion.

   The mixture of whey, beetroot juice, and spirulina seems repellent to me.

   • 1978 December 23, Michael Bronski, “Notes and Thoughts by One Gay Man on Pornography and Censorship”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 22, page 11:

     People are rightly and justifiably terrified with our culture. Many aspects of it are destructive and repellant.

   • 2014 April 12, Michael Inwood, “Martin Heidegger: the philosopher who fell for Hitler [print version: Hitler's philosopher]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Review)‎^[1], London, page R11:

     [Martin] Heidegger's repellent political beliefs do not contaminate his philosophical work.

2. Resistant or impervious to something.

   Hyponyms: moisture-repellent, water-repellent

   All that fabric's supposed to be dust-repellent.

3. (physics, now rare) Tending or able to repel; driving back.

   These particles exercise a-highly repellent force.

Translations

repulsive, inspiring aversion

• Bulgarian: противен (bg) (protiven)
• Catalan: repel·lent
• Esperanto: naŭza, forpuŝema
• Finnish: vastenmielinen (fi), kuvottava (fi)
• French: répulsif (fr)
• Italian: ripugnante (it), disgustoso (it)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: frastøtende

• Portuguese: repugnante (pt)
• Romanian: repulsiv (ro), antipatic (ro)
• Russian: отта́лкивающий (ru) (ottálkivajuščij), отврати́тельный (ru) (otvratítelʹnyj)
• Spanish: repulsivo (es)

resistant or impervious to something

• Bulgarian: непропусклив (nepropuskliv)
• Finnish: kestävä (fi), hylkivä (fi), pitävä (fi)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ugjennomtrengelig

• Russian: непроницаемый (ru) (nepronicajemyj)
• Spanish: impermeable (es)

tending or able to repel

• Bulgarian: отблъскващ (bg) (otblǎskvašt)
• Catalan: repel·lent
• Finnish: vastenmielinen (fi), kuvottava (fi)
• French: répulsif (fr) m
• Galician: repelente
• Italian: repellente (it)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} (특히 물이) 스며들지 않게 하는 ((teukhi muri) seumyeodeulji anke haneun)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: avstøtende

• Portuguese: repelente (pt) m
• Romanian: respingător (ro)
• Russian: отта́лкивающий (ru) (ottálkivajuščij)
• Spanish: repelente (es)

Noun

repellent (plural repellents)

1. A substance or solution used to repel insects, dangerous animals, or other pests.

   None of the mosquito repellents we've tried work.

2. A substance or treatment for a fabric etc to make it impervious to something.

   They applied dirt repellent to the sports car.

3. (obsolete, more generally) Someone or something that repels.

Derived terms

• insect repellent

Translations

substance used to repel animals

• Bulgarian: репелент m (repelent)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: repelent (cs) m
• Finnish: hyönteiskarkote, karkote
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: insektmiddel n, myggmiddel n (mosquito repellent)

• Scottish Gaelic: ola ana-chuileag f
• Spanish: repelente para insectos (es) m
• Thai: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} répulsif (fr)

Derived terms

• chemorepellent
• excitorepellent
• interrepellent
• nonrepellent
• pussy repellent
• Quarpel
• repellency
• repellently
• unrepellent
• water repellent

References

• repellent on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Verb

repellent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of repellō