“Rappel” or “Repel”—Which to use?

“Rappel” or “Repel”

Overview

rappel / repel are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term. 👇

Definitions

rappel: (noun) (mountaineering) a descent of a vertical cliff or wall made by using a doubled rope that is fixed to a higher point and wrapped around the body. (verb) lower oneself with a rope coiled around the body from a mountainside.

repel: (verb) cause to move back by force or influence. (verb) be repellent to; cause aversion in. (verb) force or drive back.

Pronunciation

rappel: NA

repel: r·ih·p·EH·l

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Examples in Context

Examples of “rappel”

…by Jean-François Millet and Le rappel des glaneuses (1859) by Jules…

Examples of “repel”

…the government has vowed to repel the colonial era law criminalizing…
…to defend the city and repel Bedouin attacks.
…machine guns, using them to repel attackers hidden in the dense…
…to return to Lisbon to repel a British invasion.
…to fill the gap and repel the attack.
The defenders successfully repel the attacks, first on the…
…marines stayed on board to repel an attack should the French…
After helping to repel the Seymour Expedition – a…
…smoother, unscalable surface to help repel attackers.
…aircraft were mainly used to repel Soviet bombers.

(Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions drawn from WordNet.)

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