recoil
Example Sentences
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He smiled after I busted him for looking, which made me recoil in horror and quickly dart over to hide in the pet food aisle.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Although the resulting recoil force is extremely small, it acts continuously over millions of years.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 25, 2026
Many judges recoil from that conclusion, and the constitutional inquiry becomes personal.
From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2026
“You would think that a human being with a shred of dignity would recoil from this thing,” Oswalt said.
From Salon ● Jun. 8, 2026
He didn’t recoil in disbelief when she described Pet.
From "Pet" by Akwaeke Emezi
Maekar recoils at the thought of a child of royal birth subsisting on salted beef.
From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2026
Having fashioned a creature from dead body parts, the scientist recoils from the result, which appears to him to be a monster of “unparalleled barbarity,” and abandons his construction.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
He practices a politics of inspiration, and the Surge recoils at politicians who try to inspire us.
From Slate ● Apr. 5, 2025
Although Watkins has been the center of attention since middle school, when Gottlieb started hearing whispers of an eighth-grade phenom on the recruiting circuit, Watkins recoils when asked about her success.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2023
When she sees his number appear, she recoils, as if she’s just seen a poisonous creature.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
With high inflation ravaging the economy, Greenspan recoiled when he learned Ford’s advisers planned a grassroots movement to encourage personal savings by passing out buttons that proclaimed, “Whip Inflation Now.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
Washington, by contrast, recoiled at the very notion of monarchy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026
Amid the rebuke, brands have recoiled back within the antiseptic neutrality where they’re most comfortable: irrelevant celebrity cameos, cheap millennial nostalgia, unmoored wistfulness for simpler days.
From Slate ● Feb. 8, 2026
I recoiled when the Wizard’s disembodied head loomed above.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2025
Then like black smoke on the wind it recoiled and fled, formless, down the water towards the bright gate between the cliffs.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
But when the pressure heightens and matters boil over between the quartet, Wilde carefully examines the resulting eruption instead of recoiling.
From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026
He said: "I said what I said back in February, I am not recoiling from that."
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
But he proves a skilled physical comic, tussling with his boots or recoiling from a kick in the shins from Lucky.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2025
We’ll see if voters can reward this one while recoiling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2025
“She means to show that she likes you,” Penelope started to explain, but Lady Constance was already recoiling toward the door.
From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood
Vocabulary lists containing recoil
The Lingo of Body Language
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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List 7
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