mu·ti·ny
ˈmyü-tə-nē 
ˈmyüt-nē
plural mutinies
1
: forcible or passive resistance to lawful authority
especially
: concerted (see concerted sense 1) revolt (as of a naval crew) against discipline or a superior officer
The sailors staged a mutiny and took control of the ship.
mutinied; mutinying; mutinies
: to rise against or refuse to obey or observe authority
He mutinied not just against God but against the older generation of Romanian intellectuals.—
Will Blythe
Will Blythe
specifically, of soldiers, sailors, etc.
: to rebel against military authority : to stage a mutiny
Months wore on, and about half of [Christopher] Columbus's men mutinied and tried to sail by canoe to Hispaniola. —Owen Gingerich
Owen Gingerich In April 1779 a draft of sixty men from the 71st Highlanders mutinied when they were told they were to go to America and refused to march aboard the transports. —Christopher Hibbert
Christopher Hibbert Synonyms
Examples of mutiny in a Sentence
Noun
The mutiny was led by the ship's cook.
The sailors staged a mutiny and took control of the ship.
Recent Examples on the WebCatie Edmondson, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2024
After the aborted mutiny, the mercenary leader’s plane mysteriously fell out of the sky in August and he was subsequently confirmed to have died in the crash through genetic testing, Russian authorities said.
—Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN, 16 Feb. 2024
Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash last year, just months after leading his Wagner Group forces in an aborted mutiny against the Kremlin.
—Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News, 16 Feb. 2024
Yevgeny Prigozhin's mutiny, which the former overall commander of Russia’s forces in Ukraine may have known about in advance, was a great illustration of this dissatisfaction.
—Aleksei Miniailo, Foreign Affairs, 28 Dec. 2023
After Wagner mutiny, Navalny asks why he, not Prigozhin, is jailed
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Yarmysh said Navalny had recently been in poor health, heightening concerns about his whereabouts.
—Francesca Ebel, Washington Post, 11 Dec. 2023
The story of the shipwreck of an 18th century British warship and a mutiny among the survivors.
—The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2024
In 2022, Iran witnessed its largest street protests since the 1979 revolution, China confronted the largest public demonstrations since the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989, and Putin was shown to be surprisingly vulnerable to the Prigozhin mutiny.
—Daniel Twining, National Review, 23 Jan. 2024
Immediately change the balance of consequences for mutiny, inciting mutiny, talking behind people backs and the like.
—George Bradt, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023
Stephen R. Weissman, Foreign Affairs, 16 June 2014
After the officer in charge hanged one of the men, the crew mutinied, built their own ship, and sailed home, abandoning the fort some 11 months after their arrival.
—Shanti Menon, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019
Jackie Calmes: McCarthy flopped, Gaetz mutinied, but blame the chaos on the entire Republican Party.
—Helen Li, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2023
More recently, Tytler and his young wife, Harriet Tytler—she eight months pregnant, with two small children at her side—had narrowly escaped Delhi in 1857, when the sepoys, or Indian infantrymen, mutinied.
—Adam Goodheart, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Sep. 2023
Facing an uncertain future, many Russians have moved their savings abroad since the outbreak of the war, transferring more than a billion dollars' worth in three days of national upheaval in late June, according to the central bank, when Wagner mercenaries mutinied against the military.
—Anatoly Kurmanaev, New York Times, 15 Aug. 2023
The United States, the United Nations, the European Union and regional bodies called on the mutinying soldiers to stand down.
—Declan Walsh, New York Times, 26 July 2023
Even before the Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin mutinied against Putin, this was a questionable assumption.
—Samuel Charap, Foreign Affairs, 13 July 2023
In February 1915, Indian soldiers mutinied in Singapore following rumors that they would soon be sent to Egypt to fight fellow Muslims of the Ottoman Empire.
—Adom Getachew, Foreign Affairs, 22 June 2021
Noun
The House on Friday passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill to fund the government through September and avert a partial shutdown at the end of the week, setting off a G.O.P. mutiny that threatened Speaker Mike Johnson’s hold on his job.
—Catie Edmondson, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2024
After the aborted mutiny, the mercenary leader’s plane mysteriously fell out of the sky in August and he was subsequently confirmed to have died in the crash through genetic testing, Russian authorities said.
—Lauren Said-Moorhouse, CNN, 16 Feb. 2024
Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash last year, just months after leading his Wagner Group forces in an aborted mutiny against the Kremlin.
—Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News, 16 Feb. 2024
Yevgeny Prigozhin's mutiny, which the former overall commander of Russia’s forces in Ukraine may have known about in advance, was a great illustration of this dissatisfaction.
—Aleksei Miniailo, Foreign Affairs, 28 Dec. 2023
After Wagner mutiny, Navalny asks why he, not Prigozhin, is jailed
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Yarmysh said Navalny had recently been in poor health, heightening concerns about his whereabouts.
—Francesca Ebel, Washington Post, 11 Dec. 2023
The story of the shipwreck of an 18th century British warship and a mutiny among the survivors.
—The California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2024
In 2022, Iran witnessed its largest street protests since the 1979 revolution, China confronted the largest public demonstrations since the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989, and Putin was shown to be surprisingly vulnerable to the Prigozhin mutiny.
—Daniel Twining, National Review, 23 Jan. 2024
Immediately change the balance of consequences for mutiny, inciting mutiny, talking behind people backs and the like.
—George Bradt, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023
Verb
Within days, however, Congo’s troops mutinied against their all-white officer corps (a holdover from the colonial era) and started terrorizing the European population.
—Stephen R. Weissman, Foreign Affairs, 16 June 2014
After the officer in charge hanged one of the men, the crew mutinied, built their own ship, and sailed home, abandoning the fort some 11 months after their arrival.
—Shanti Menon, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2019
Jackie Calmes: McCarthy flopped, Gaetz mutinied, but blame the chaos on the entire Republican Party.
—Helen Li, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2023
More recently, Tytler and his young wife, Harriet Tytler—she eight months pregnant, with two small children at her side—had narrowly escaped Delhi in 1857, when the sepoys, or Indian infantrymen, mutinied.
—Adam Goodheart, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Sep. 2023
Facing an uncertain future, many Russians have moved their savings abroad since the outbreak of the war, transferring more than a billion dollars' worth in three days of national upheaval in late June, according to the central bank, when Wagner mercenaries mutinied against the military.
—Anatoly Kurmanaev, New York Times, 15 Aug. 2023
The United States, the United Nations, the European Union and regional bodies called on the mutinying soldiers to stand down.
—Declan Walsh, New York Times, 26 July 2023
Even before the Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin mutinied against Putin, this was a questionable assumption.
—Samuel Charap, Foreign Affairs, 13 July 2023
In February 1915, Indian soldiers mutinied in Singapore following rumors that they would soon be sent to Egypt to fight fellow Muslims of the Ottoman Empire.
—Adom Getachew, Foreign Affairs, 22 June 2021
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mutiny.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Articles Related to mutiny
Dictionary Entries Near mutiny
Cite this Entry
“Mutiny.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mutiny. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
mutiny
noun
mu·ti·ny
ˈmyüt-ᵊn-ē
ˈmyüt-nē
plural mutinies
: refusal to obey authority
especially
: a military outbreak against the officer in charge
mutiny
verb
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share