Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To refuse allegiance to and oppose by force an established government or ruling authority.
- intransitive verb To resist or defy an authority or a generally accepted convention.
- intransitive verb To feel or express strong unwillingness or repugnance.
- noun One who rebels or is in rebellion.
- noun A Confederate soldier.
- noun A person who resists or defies authority or convention.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Resisting authority or law; rebellious.
- Of a rebellious nature or character; characteristic of a rebel.
- noun A person who makes war upon the government of his country from political motives; one of a body of persons organized for a change of government or of laws by force of arms, or by open defiance.
- noun Hence One who or that which resists authority or law; one who refuses obedience to a superior, or who revolts against some controlling power or principle.
- noun Synonyms Traitor, etc. See
insurgent , n. - To make war against one's government, or against anything deemed oppressive, by arms or other means; revolt by active resistance or repulsion.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun One who rebels.
- adjective Pertaining to rebels or rebellion; acting in revolt; rebellious.
- intransitive verb To renounce, and resist by force, the authority of the ruler or government to which one owes obedience. See
rebellion . - intransitive verb To be disobedient to authority; to assume a hostile or insubordinate attitude; to revolt.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive To
resist or becomedefiant toward anauthority . - noun A person who
resists an establishedauthority , oftenviolently .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a person who takes part in an armed rebellion against the constituted authority (especially in the hope of improving conditions)
- verb break with established customs
- noun someone who exhibits great independence in thought and action
- noun `Johnny' was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War; `greyback' derived from their grey Confederate uniforms
- verb take part in a rebellion; renounce a former allegiance
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Your Lordships will find that he never is a rebel to one party without being a tyrant to some others; that _rebel_ and _tyrant_ are correlative terms, when applied to him, and that they constantly go together.
The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 12 (of 12) Edmund Burke 1763
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The Leinster king, however, could neither be frightened nor persuaded into seeing matters in that light, and, probably, thought the term rebel would be more appropriately applied to those who resisted the native rulers of the country.
An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 Mary Frances Cusack 1864
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Unlike many, I don't find the term "rebel" pejorative; George Washington was a rebel.
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The term rebel may not now appear in all its train of horrid consequences.
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The term rebel may not now appear in all its train of horrid consequences.
Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry Wirt, William, 1772-1834 1817
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Hanging the word "rebel" onto someone for me is like a neon flower to a buzzing bumble bee For the most part...though we won't go into those particulars now.
Beth Arnold: Letter From Paris: Chocolate and Jacques Genin Beth Arnold 2011
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Hanging the word "rebel" onto someone for me is like a neon flower to a buzzing bumble bee For the most part...though we won't go into those particulars now.
Beth Arnold: Letter From Paris: Chocolate and Jacques Genin Beth Arnold 2011
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Hanging the word "rebel" onto someone for me is like a neon flower to a buzzing bumble bee For the most part...though we won't go into those particulars now.
Beth Arnold: Letter From Paris: Chocolate and Jacques Genin Beth Arnold 2011
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In Washington, Hoyos said that roughly 1,500 rebels are hiding out in Venezuela and he showed fellow diplomats numerous aerial photographs of what he identified as rebel camps on Venezuelan territory.
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In Washington, Hoyos said that roughly 1,500 rebels are hiding out in Venezuela and he showed fellow diplomats numerous aerial photographs of what he identified as rebel camps on Venezuelan territory.
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