recoil

When she suggests an injured baseball player might pivot to another sport, some parents recoil.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

Redirecting each photon creates a tiny recoil force, similar in principle to the recoil produced when a bullet is fired.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 18, 2026

Years have turned over since the social recoil of 2020.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

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

The sound hurts my ears and the recoil sends my hands back, toward my nose.

From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth

Half a century later, Jiang is still the reason the Communist Party recoils at any hint of a leader’s spouse wielding power.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 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

Historically, when the connection between power and principles is stretched so thin as to be no longer plausible, the public recoils.

From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2023

In the newsreel the destroyer’s guns fire without sound and, half a world away, amid the elegance of an old- fashioned cinema, Tessie Zizmo feels the recoils.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

But the risks of fame — the kind her friends at Daisy Chain Fields have won, savored and recoiled from — is settling in too.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

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

The manager turned off the vacuum, recoiled hoses and exhaled with relief.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 23, 2025

By that point, Layan had forgotten her completely, Omama says, and recoiled when they met.

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2025

Even Lady Isobel recoiled at the unexpected ferocity of these visitors, until the men were pushed aside and a woman dressed in hunting gear threw back her green hooded cloak to reveal a smiling face.

From "Ash" by Malinda Lo

"He's so scary!" says 16-year-old Skye, recoiling at the mention of the Cat in the Hat.

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 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

De Guzman, who also curated an art show called “Roots of Cool” about trees, noted that Los Angeles seems to actually shrink during the hotter months, as if recoiling from the sun.

From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2025

She pictured him puffing up the stairs, squeezing through the door, looking dis-approvingly at the clutter in their house, recoiling from Poppy’s sticky hands—no, it wouldn’t do.

From "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau