recoil

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Springing back

Nouns — recoil, reaction, retroaction, revulsion, rebound, ricochet, bounce, boomerang, kick, backlash, repercussion, reflex, return, repulse, repulsion, reverberation, echo; reactionary, reactionist. See reversion, regression, leap.

Verbs

1. recoil, react, rebound, reverberate, echo, spring or fly back, kick, ricochet, reflect, boomerang, carom, bounce, shy; backfire. Slang, kneejerk.

2. cringe, cower, wince, flinch, quail, shrink; draw, fade, fall, or drop back, retreat (see recession).

Adjectives — recoiling, refluent, repercussive, recalcitrant, reactionary; flinching, cowering, etc.

Quotations — To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction (Isaac Newton).

Antonyms, see impulse.

II

(Roget's IV) v.

Syn. withdraw, turn away, shrink from, draw back, step back, pull back, start back, flinch, start, demur, blink, shirk, falter, dodge, swerve, wince, cringe, duck, quail; see also retreat 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) v.

draw back, shrink back, pull back, jump, withdraw, cringe, flinch, wince, start, reel.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I verb 1. To jerk backward, as a gun upon firing: rebound. See FORWARD. 2. To draw away involuntarily, usually out of fear or disgust: blench1, cringe, flinch, quail, shrink, shy1, start, wince. See APPROACH, SEEK. II noun An act of drawing back in an involuntary or instinctive fashion: cringe, flinch, shrink, wince. See APPROACH, SEEK.