disobedience

noun dis·obe·di·ence \ ˌdis-ə-ˈbē-dē-ən(t)s , -ō-ˈbē- \

Definition of disobedience

:refusal or neglect to obey

See disobedience defined for English-language learners

See disobedience defined for kids

Examples of disobedience in a Sentence

The student's disobedience shocked the teacher.
The dog was punished for its disobedience.

Recent Examples of disobedience from the Web

In terms of people arrested, the numbers climbed significantly from 221 arrests in June to 585 in July, with at least 514 (88 percent) of those July arrests coming in 25 cases of nonviolent civil disobedience.

— erica chenoweth, Washington Post, "Defending Obamacare, cheering President Trump, opposing animal cruelty: Here’s who rallied in July and why.," 21 Aug. 2017
Our collective freedom was fought for through acts of civil disobedience because advocating for our freedom literally required it.

— lincoln anthony blades, Teen Vogue, "Dear Police, Why Are You Treating White Supremacists Better Than Nonviolent Black Activists?," 18 Aug. 2017
But one theory bothers him more than the rest: that his disobedience resulted from poor parenting.

— jacob feldman, SI.com, "Martavis Bryant Will Take the Steelers to the Super Bowl. Or Spoil Their Season. Again.," 1 Aug. 2017
There was also a vigil outside the capital before the act of civil disobedience.

— josh kovner, courant.com, "In Day Of Budget Protests, Five Arrested For The Cause," 18 July 2017
He was also found guilty of disobedience of military orders and dishonorably discharged.

— jomana karadsheh, CNN, "Jordanian soldier gets life for killing US troops," 17 July 2017
Thoreau’s ideas about civil disobedience were first spread in the late 1900s by Henry Salt, an English social reformer who introduced them to Gandhi.

— kat eschner, Smithsonian, "Martin Luther King and Gandhi Weren’t the Only Ones Inspired By Thoreau’s ‘Civil Disobedience’," 13 July 2017
As the kidz say, read the whole thing, and then think about what might happen in the case of widespread civil disobedience.

— charles p. pierce, Esquire, "This Is Not an Ideal Time to Have White Supremacists Infiltrating Law Enforcement," 16 June 2017
Thousands of police have been training for months to prepare for a huge annual protest march and any flare-ups of civil disobedience.

— david tweed, Bloomberg.com, "How Chinese Rule Has Changed Hong Kong Since 1997," 15 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'disobedience.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.