Repugnancy
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The quality of being repugnant: offensiveness, repulsion. countable, uncountable
"[…] howsoever nature dictates, that government is necessary for the safety of the society, yet every singular person, by corruption and selfe-love, hath a naturall aversenesse and repugnancie to submit to any; every man would be a King himselfe […]"
- 2 The quality of being repugnant: (logical) opposition, contradiction, incompatibility. countable, uncountable
"For if the paralleles be of this nature, that howe muche the nearer we are th’equinoctiall, so muche the greater is the heate: and howe muche the furder remoued from th’equinoctiall, so muche the colder the qualitie of the aire is: there must seme a manifest repugnancie, betwixt Auicenne, & the Geographers."
- 3 Resistance, fighting back. archaic, countable, uncountable
"Why do fond men expose themselves to battle, And not endure all threats? sleep upon’t, And let the foes quietly cut their throats, Without repugnancy?"
Example
More examples"[…] howsoever nature dictates, that government is necessary for the safety of the society, yet every singular person, by corruption and selfe-love, hath a naturall aversenesse and repugnancie to submit to any; every man would be a King himselfe […]"
Etymology
From repugnant + -cy.
Related phrases
More for "repugnancy"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.