What does repugnant mean?
Word: Repugnant
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Repugnant means causing strong dislike or disgust.
How do you spell repugnant?
Syllables: re - pug - nant
Tricky part: The ending is the guess. It sounds as if it could be ent, so repugnent is the usual slip, but this adjective takes ant.
Watch out for: repugnent, repugnint
Memory tip: Picture an ant crawling across your lunch. Repugnant! The ant belongs at the end of the word.
Repugnant in a sentence
Example 1: The smell of spoilt milk was repugnant to everyone in the room.
Example 2: Most of us find it repugnant when litter is thrown into a clean river.
Example 3: Riya found the taste of raw bitter gourd repugnant.
Fun Fact
In Latin repugnare meant 'to resist', so anything repugnant is something you want to push away from you.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
rep_g_ant
a) e, n
b) u, n
c) o, n
d) u, m
Show answer
b) u, n. The middle syllable has the vowel of mug, and the last begins with the sound in net.
Mingle-Mangle
Unscramble the jumbled word in the sentence and choose the correct word:
The thought of copying a friend's homework was npetgaurn to Meera.
a) redundant
b) repentant
c) repugnant
d) resonant
Show answer
c) repugnant. The u and the g settle it: repentant has neither, and resonant and redundant cannot be made from these letters.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word repugnant as used in the sentence:
The idea of wasting good food was repugnant to my grandmother.
a) offensive
b) disgusting
c) hateful
d) appealing
Show answer
d) appealing. Something that attracts you is appealing, the reverse of what the grandmother felt.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the meaning of the word that is spelt wrongly.
1. quintessential 2. surreptitious 3. repuggnant 4. vernacular
a) done secretly so that others do not notice
b) the language spoken by ordinary people of a place
c) being the purest example of something
d) so unpleasant that you turn away from it
Show answer
d) so unpleasant that you turn away from it. A single g is all this adjective needs, so choose the meaning that goes with it.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these would most people find repugnant?
a) the taste of a ripe mango
b) the sound of gentle rainfall
c) the feel of a warm blanket
d) the odour of a blocked drain
Show answer
d) the odour of a blocked drain
2. If a task is repugnant to you, you will probably ____.
a) put it off for as long as you can
b) tell your friends how much you enjoy it
c) ask to do it again the next day
d) finish it first with a happy smile
Show answer
a) put it off for as long as you can
