repellent

From Latin repellēns. Equivalent to repel +‎ -ent.

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

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

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

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.

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

   Hyponyms: moisture-repellent, water-repellent

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

   These particles exercise a-highly repellent force.

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.

• pussy repellent
• water repellent

• repellent on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

repellent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of repellō