recoils

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

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

You see Oppenheimer recoil, even if what he recoils from is left pointedly out of frame.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 11, 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