dissident

adjective

dis·​si·​dent ˈdi-sə-dənt 

: disagreeing especially with an established religious or political system, organization, or belief

dissident elements in the armed forces

dissident noun

Synonyms

• dissenting
• unconventional
• maverick
• heretic
• nonconformist
• iconoclastic
• heretical
• separatist
• out-there

Examples of dissident in a Sentence

dissident elements within the Catholic Church

Recent Examples on the Web

Human rights in Russia will suffer if the surveillance of dissident activity ramps up, and those seeking alternative means of communicating will stand out even more as regime-threatening anomalies. —Justin Sherman, The Atlantic, 11 Oct. 2025

Tucker Carlson, the one-time cable news king now moonlighting as a dissident podcaster, has evinced an unhealthy obsession with the Jewish people and the state of Israel. —Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Oct. 2025

This is the second year running that a European country has nominated a film from an Iranian dissident director for the Academy Awards. —Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 10 Oct. 2025

He had been involved in dissident circles since his student days, in the nineties. —Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Latin dissident-, dissidens, present participle of dissidēre to sit apart, disagree, from dis- + sedēre to sit — more at sit

First Known Use

1769, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

dissident

adjective

dis·​si·​dent ˈdis-əd-ənt 

: disagreeing with an opinion or a group

dissident noun