| 词组 | repulse, repel |
| 释义 | repulse, repel Quite a few commentators—Evans 1957, Bernstein 1962, 1965, Bremner 1980, Copperud 1970, 1980, Shaw 1975, 1987, Bryson 1984, Freeman 1983—insist on a distinction between the figurative uses of repel and repulse. What this distinction amounts to is disapproval of the sense of repulse that means "to cause repulsion in." Bernstein illustrates the desired distinction with this sentence: • She repulsed the suitor because he repelled her. Here repulse means basically "to drive off or turn away," which is its oldest sense (and which, incidentally, is also a sense of repel). Repulse is often used in this sense, as Bernstein suggests, and repel is often used to mean "to cause repulsion in": • ... she had learned to be on the watch and to repulse advances that were disagreeable —Ellen Glasgow, Barren Ground, 1925 • A teacher embittered by personal disappointment can hurt and repulse with corrosive wit the timid or groping student —Donald H. Morrison, N. Y. Times Mag., 16 Oct. 1955 • ... the inevitable promiscuity attached to a sexual search repelled him —Norman Mailer, Harper's, March 1971 • ... he was personally repelled by some of the racial policies of the Metropolitan Club in Washington — Gay Talese, Harper's, January 1969 But repulse is also used like repel, as in these examples: • ... Malone sat trembling on the edge of the table, repulsed by his own weakness and distress —Carson McCullers, Botteghe Oscure, Quaderno XI, 1953 • Hoarding repulses Mr. Risolo, the barber —Philip Hawkins, Wall Street Jour., 5 Oct. 1966 • People who had been repulsed by his wartime pamphleteering were eager to forget him —John W. Al-dridge, Saturday Rev., 1 Aug. 1976 The suggestion in Copperud and Evans that it is an error to associate repulse with repulsion has no foundation; both words are derived from the same Latin word, and there is no logical reason they should not share senses. You will, of course, feel free to observe the distinction between repulse and repel urged by the commentators if you find it useful to do so. But it is one thing to observe the distinction yourself and another to insist that other people observe it too. The distinction itself does not seem to be an especially helpful one. The context in all our citations for repulse makes it clear which sense is being used. Repel is, however, far more common in the disputed sense than is repulse. The choice is yours. |
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