Revulsed

Revulsed is an adjective that is largely archaic or rare in contemporary English. It denotes being affected by revulsion or being repelled, or something that produces revulsion. In modern usage, the noun form revulsion and the adjective revulsive are more common, while revulsed itself appears mainly in historical or literary contexts.

In historical medical or physiological writing, revulsed and related revulsive terms described counterirritant treatments intended to provoke a local reaction to draw energy, blood, or symptoms away from a diseased area. Such practices—sometimes called revulsives—used topical caustics, blisters, or cold and heat applications to induce a revulsive response. Descriptions might refer to a patient being revulsed by a procedure if it elicited a pronounced revulsive reaction.

Examples of usage are typical of older texts: a sentence might describe a patient as revulsed by the sight of an injury, or a physician as applying a revulsed plaster to provoke a counterirritant effect. In general modern prose, however, speakers are more likely to say they were repulsed or that a treatment caused a revulsion, rather than to use revulsed.

Related terms include revulsion (a noun), revulsive (an adjective or noun referring to something that produces revulsion), and revulsant (a substance or measure designed to cause a revulsive reaction). The word remains largely of historical interest, with contemporary usage favoring clearer, more common expressions for disgust or counterirritant effects.