repercussion

See also: répercussion

English
WOTD – 15 February 2010

Etymology

From Middle French répercussion, from Latin repercussio (“rebounding; repercussion”), from repercutio (“cause to rebound, reflect, strike against”), from re- + percutio (“beat, strike”), from per- (“thoroughly”) + quatio (“shake”).

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˌɹiː.pəˈkʌʃ.ən/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˌɹi.pɚˈkʌʃ.ən/, /ˌɹɛ.pɚˈkʌʃ.ən/
  • Audio (AU)(file)

Noun

repercussion (countable and uncountable, plural repercussions)

  1. A consequence or ensuing result of some action.
    You realize this little stunt of yours is going to have some pretty serious repercussions.
  2. The act of driving back, or the state of being driven back; reflection; reverberation.
    the repercussion of sound
    • Hare
      Ever echoing back in endless repercussion.
  3. (music) Rapid reiteration of the same sound.
  4. (medicine) The subsidence of a tumour or eruption by the action of a repellent.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Dunglison to this entry?)
  5. (obstetrics) In a vaginal examination, the act of imparting through the uterine wall with the finger a shock to the foetus, so that it bounds upward, and falls back again against the examining finger.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for repercussion in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Synonyms

Translations
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