defiance

1 refusal to obey any defiance of the authoritarian regime would have dire consequences Synonyms balkiness, contrariness, contumacy, disobedience, frowardness, insubordination, intractability, obstreperousness, rebellion, rebelliousness, recalcitrance, refractoriness, unruliness, waywardness, willfulnessRelated Words civil disobedience, noncooperation; discourteousness, disrespect, impertinence, impoliteness, impudence, inconsiderateness, inconsideration, insolence, rudeness, ungraciousness; doggedness, hardheadedness, mulishness, obduracy, obdurateness, obstinacy, obstinateness, peevishness, pertinaciousness, pertinacity, perversity, pigheadedness, self-will, stubbornness, tenaciousness, tenacity; knavery, mischievousness, naughtinessNear Antonyms agreeability, amenability, amiability; slavishness, submissiveness, subservience, subserviency; trainability; deference, docility, dutifulnessAntonyms compliance, obedience, submission, subordinateness, subordination, tractability, tractableness

2 the inclination to resist the troubled youth seems to have an ingrained defiance to authority of any sort Synonyms resistance, oppositionRelated Words demur, objection, protest, remonstrance; compunction, misgiving, reservation; disobedience, noncompliance, recalcitranceNear Antonyms compliance, obedience; acceptance, approvalAntonyms acquiescence

3 an inclination to fight or quarrel a deeply troubled person who seemed the very soul of defiance Synonyms aggression, aggressiveness, assaultiveness, bellicosity, belligerency, combativeness, contentiousness, belligerence, disputatiousness, feistiness, fight, militance, militancy, militantness, pugnacity, quarrelsomeness, scrappiness, truculenceRelated Words antagonism, fierceness, hostility, hyperaggressiveness, unfriendliness; imperialism, jingoism, militarism; acidity, biliousness, captiousness, crabbiness, crankiness, crossness, disagreeableness, fractiousness, fretfulness, grouchiness, grumpiness, huffiness, irascibility, irascibleness, irritability, irritableness, orneriness, peevishness, pettishness, petulance, querulousness, rudeness, surliness, testiness, waspishnessNear Antonyms antiaggression, anti-imperialism, antimilitarism; affability, amiability, amicability, benevolence, cordiality, friendliness, geniality, graciousness, pleasantness, sociability; gentleness, kindliness, mildness; amenability, complaisance, placabilityAntonyms nonaggression, pacifism