Repels

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Keeps something or someone at a distance by preventing their approach
2. Causes an object or person to move back or stay away through force or effect
3. Acts to push away or avoid contact with others or unwanted elements

Etymology: "Repels" is the third-person singular form of "repel", so the story belongs to the verb itself. The verb came into Middle English from Old French, where a form along the lines of "repeller" existed, and that in turn came from Latin "repellere", meaning "to drive back". The Latin word is built from "re-", meaning "back", and "pellere", meaning "to drive", so the core image is of something being struck or pushed away. The English verb has a surprising sibling. "Repeal", the word for cancelling a law, comes from the same Latin root through a different French route, so the two are doublets: one came into English as a verb of physical forcing, the other as a term of legal reversal. Both trace back to the idea of driving something backwards, yet they have taken on quite separate lives in English.

Synonyms: rebuffs, disgusts, averts

Antonyms: attracts, draws, appeals