recoil — OAT · Shobdo

recoil

verb

(stress on the second syllable)

1 as he leaned toward her, she instinctively recoiled:

draw back, jump back, spring back, jerk back, pull back;

flinch, shy away, shrink (back), blench, start, wince, cower, quail.

2 he pictured them in his mind and recoiled from the thought:

feel revulsion at, feel disgust at, feel abhorrence at, be unable to bear, be unable to stomach, shrink from, shy away from, balk at, hesitate at.

3 his rifle recoiled:

kick (back), jerk back, spring back, fly back, jump back.

4 his attempts to discredit them will eventually recoil on him:

rebound on, come back on, affect badly;

misfire, backfire, boomerang, go wrong, fail to work out, be unsuccessful, go amiss, come to grief, meet with disaster;

archaic redound on.

noun

(stress on the first syllable)

the recoil of the gun:

kickback, kick.