recoil

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

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 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

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

He takes my hand, and I almost recoil.

From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez

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

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

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

While reviews were largely positive, The Quietus recoiled at the lack of heavy guitar anthems in a scathing screed that employed descriptors like "unintrusive", "clunking" and "by-numbers detritus".

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2025

Whenever a stranger gingerly held out a hand for a sniff, he recoiled.

From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2025

A person felt a prick and instantly recoiled, or saw a snake and leapt, or heard the sound of thundering hooves and stepped back off the street.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

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

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

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

“Swim in it? Me?” said retiree Patrice Desrousses, 64, recoiling ever so slightly as he paused in his promenade beside the storied waterway.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2024

Even though he thought she was recoiling from him, he took another couple of steps in her direction.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan