Was repelled by violent death (5)
I believe the answer is:
hated
'was repelled by' is the definition.
(if you hate someone you might be repelled by them)
'violent death' is the wordplay.
'violent' indicates an anagram.
'death' with letters rearranged gives 'HATED'.
(Other definitions for hated that I've seen before include "was unable to stand" , "Abominated" , "Seriously disliked" , "gave stinking review to?" , "Abhorred" .)