recoil
Use Recoil in a sentence
Dictionary.com Unabridged
verb (used without object)
1.
to draw back; start or shrink back, as in alarm, horror, or disgust.
2.
to spring or fly back, as in consequence of force of impact or the force of the discharge, as a firearm.
3.
to spring or come back; react (usually followed by on or upon ): Plots frequently recoil upon the plotters.
4.
Physics. (of an atom, a nucleus, or a particle) to undergo a change in momentum as a result either of a collision with an atom, a nucleus, or a particle or of the emission of a particle.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To recoil
00:10
Recoil
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is peculate. Does it mean:
| to bark; yelp. |
| to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
| recoil | |
| —vb (foll by on | |
| 1. | to jerk back, as from an impact or violent thrust |
| 2. | ( |
| 3. | to go wrong, esp so as to hurt the perpetrator |
| 4. | (of a nucleus, atom, molecule, or elementary particle) to change momentum as a result of the emission of a photon or particle |
| —n | |
| 5. | a. the backward movement of a gun when fired |
| b. the distance moved | |
| 6. | the motion acquired by a particle as a result of its emission of a photon or other particle |
| 7. | the act of recoiling |
| [C13: from Old French reculer, from | |
| re'coiler | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
recoil
early 13c., "force back," from O.Fr. reculer "to go back, recede, retreat," from V.L. *reculare, from L. re- "back" + culus "backside." Meaning "shrink back" is first recorded 1510s, and that of "spring back" (as a gun) in 1520s. The noun is attested from early 14c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
We are seeing a public recoil from formal politics, from the active, reasoned exercise of citizenship.
Rather than rely on a muzzle-brake to reduce recoil, use a rifle heavy enough to reduce recoil.
Rather than recoil from these new campers, the protesters did everything they could to include them in their tiny, model society.
We rent movies about youths dying in mud or jungles and recoil at the senselessness of it all.
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