EMOTION THESAURUS

REVULSION



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HELPFUL TIP:

The inner landscape of your characters (especially your protagonist) is the lifeblood that runs through your story. Emotions, and how they're expressed, are tied deeply to a character’s personality and which positive traits and negative traits will manifest. To bring your readers in deeper through shared experience, consider filtering the setting descriptions through your character’s emotions while also exploring important colors, textures, and shapes through his or her senses.
DEFINITION:
A strong sense of distaste or repugnance

SIMILAR EMOTIONS:
DISGUST, SCORN

NOTES:
Revulsion is disgust's big brother. More than a base-level aversion, it's so strong that the subject must withdraw or pull away. This can happen when something repugnant assaults the character's senses, but it can also arise in the presence of a revolting belief, proposal, conversation, or even another person.

PHYSICAL SIGNALS AND BEHAVIORS:
Pursing the lips and shaking the head
The head jerking back on the neck
Muscles tightening around the mouth and nose
The face wrinkling, lips pressed together
Pulling the extremities in; making the body compact
Exhaling through the nose or mouth, as if expelling something bad
Covering the mouth (with a hand, sleeve, napkin, etc.)
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INTERNAL SENSATIONS:
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MENTAL RESPONSES:
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CUES OF ACUTE OR LONG TERM REVULSION:
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MAY ESCALATE TO:
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CUES OF SUPPRESSED REVULSION:
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MAY DE-ESCALATE TO:
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ASSOCIATED POWER VERBS:
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