recoil
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.
See Examples For:
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
Why do we recoil when a leader is vulgar and violent in his language and thinking?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
And the Beatles didn’t recoil in horror when they were told they had to play eight hours a night, seven days a week.
From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell
At the end of “The Return,” when Fiennes stands entrail-smeared before his beloved Penelope, she recoils from the horror of the battlefield brought right into their home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 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
Viewers raved over Beharie's work in "White Noise," which is certainly excellent, especially in the scene where she simply recoils, wordless, as she takes in the vile digs anonymous commenters get in at her expense.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2023
Jillian recoils as if my tone was a slap.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
I’ve always recoiled at having dinner on a first date.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 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
And when I called a mobile vet, just randomly chosen from online, I recoiled when they quoted a fee of $750.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2025
He recoiled, eyes flashing a hurt that almost made her sorry.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
Americans are recoiling at rising restaurant and coffee prices and eating out less, making Starbucks’s turnaround more challenging.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 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
What I'm suggesting is that our mass recoiling at Sara Ramirez's Che Diaz on "And Just Like That…" may be misdirected.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2023
Her shoulders sagged, and she turned her head back, as though recoiling from an insult.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Vocabulary lists containing recoil
The Lingo of Body Language
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List 7
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