rə̇ˈpəlshən, rēˈp- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French, from Medieval Latin repulsion-, repulsio, from Late Latin, refutation, from Latin repulsus (past participle of repellere ) + -ion-, -io -ion
1. : the action of repulsing or the state of being repulsed : the action of driving off, back, or away : the state of being driven off, back, or away
the repulsion of the Spanish army — Alexander Ranken
magnetic attraction and repulsion
2. : a force (as between like electric charges, like magnetic poles, or antiparallel electric currents) tending to produce separation
3. : a feeling of aversion : strong dislike : repugnance
towards whom … she felt strong physical repulsion — T.S.Eliot
voice tinged with fastidious repulsion — Agatha Christie
4. : the tendency of particular genetic characters to be inherited separately presumably because of linkage of dominant genes that control expression of one character and recessive genes of another — compare coupling