1. (

• recoil ,
• kick

) the backward jerk of a gun when it is fired ;

2. (

• recoil ,
• repercussion ,
• rebound ,
• backlash

) a movement back from an impact ;

1. (

• flinch ,
• squinch ,
• funk ,
• cringe ,
• shrink ,
• wince ,
• recoil ,
• quail

) draw back, as with fear or pain; "she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf" ;

2. (

• backfire ,
• backlash ,
• recoil

) come back to the originator of an action with an undesired effect; "Your comments may backfire and cause you a lot of trouble"; "the political movie backlashed on the Democrats" ;

3. (

• bounce ,
• resile ,
• take_a_hop ,
• spring ,
• bound ,
• rebound ,
• recoil ,
• reverberate ,
• ricochet

) spring back; spring away from an impact; "The rubber ball bounced"; "These particles do not resile but they unite after they collide" ;

4. (

• kick_back ,
• recoil ,
• kick ,

) spring back, as from a forceful thrust; "The gun kicked back into my shoulder" ;