Repugnancy

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A strong feeling of disgust or aversion toward something morally or physically offensive ; a state of being contradictory or incompatible with another thing
2. Intense revulsion felt toward something repellent ; the quality of conflicting with or being inconsistent with something else
3. Deep loathing or distaste for an object or idea ; the condition of clashing or being incompatible with some other principle or fact

Etymology: "Repugnancy" arrived in English from Middle English "repugnancie," which was taken from Latin "repugnantia," a noun built on "repugnare," "to fight against" or "to resist." The Latin verb combined "re-," meaning "back" or "against," with "pugnare," "to fight," the same root that gives English "pugnacious." So the core idea was literal combat, two forces pushing back against each other, before it came to describe a clash of opinions or feelings. The word is a doublet of "repugnance," meaning the two English forms descend from the same Latin source but reached the language by different routes and took on slightly different shades. Both were built from "repugnant," with the suffix "-cy" attached, which turns an adjective into a noun of state or quality, much as "constancy" or "vacancy" do.

Synonyms: repugnance, antipathy, aversion, revulsion, loathing

Antonyms: attraction, affinity, liking, appeal