What does revolting mean?
Revolting is an adjective meaning so offensive, disgusting, or nauseating that it provokes a strong desire to reject or avoid something. It can describe physical sensations, especially an unpleasant smell, sight, taste, or texture, but it is also used for behavior, treatment, and social conditions that are morally shocking. The word is more emphatic than merely unpleasant and often implies that something violates basic standards of dignity or decency. Although revolting is now most familiar in this evaluative sense, it can also be the present participle of revolt, meaning to rebel against authority: a population may revolt against a government or occupying force. This older political sense explains the word’s connection with turning back, resisting authority, and overturning established control. Thus, in everyday use, revolting is associated overwhelmingly with disgust, while its less frequent verbal use belongs to formal historical and political writing.
Causing intense disgust or revulsion; deeply offensive to the senses or sensibilities.
"The guards were treated with revolting cruelty."
Strongly evaluative and commonly used for both physical offensiveness and morally objectionable conduct.
Present participle of revolt, meaning to rise in rebellion or resist authority.
"The army revolting against the government was eventually suppressed."
Formal and relatively uncommon in contemporary usage; the standard forms are revolt and revolts.
A word for rebellion eventually became one of English's sharpest descriptions of anything deeply offensive.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does revolting come from?
Revolting developed from the Middle English form of revolt, meaning to turn back, resist authority, or rebel. The word was borrowed through Old French and ultimately derives from Latin revolvere, meaning to turn back or roll back, from re- 'back' and volvere 'to turn'. Its modern sense of causing disgust developed from the idea of something being offensive or repellent, while the related political meaning reflects its older association with resistance and rebellion.
Related word forms
How revolting is actually used
As an adjective, revolting is stronger and more emotionally forceful than simply unpleasant or unpleasant-tasting, and it often conveys moral as well as physical disgust. In the verbal sense, it is formal and usually appears in contexts of political or military rebellion.
Easily confused with revolting
As an adjective, revolting means causing disgust; as the present participle of revolt, it means rebelling against authority.