Synonyms of defiance

defiance

noun

di-ˈfī-ən(t)s 

1

as in rebellion

refusal to obey

any defiance of the authoritarian regime would have dire consequences

Synonyms & Similar Words

• rebellion
• willfulness
• rebelliousness
• disrespect
• contrariness
• disobedience
• insubordination
• recalcitrance
• contumacy
• rudeness
• waywardness
• unruliness
• intractability
• stubbornness
• refractoriness
• frowardness
• balkiness
• noncooperation
• obstreperousness
• civil disobedience
• obstinacy
• insolence
• tenacity
• perversity
• impudence
• obduracy
• inconsiderateness
• pigheadedness
• inconsideration
• peevishness
• doggedness
• pertinacity
• impoliteness
• self-will
• mischievousness
• naughtiness
• tenaciousness
• ungraciousness
• impertinence
• discourteousness
• hardheadedness
• obdurateness
• knavery
• obstinateness
• mulishness
• pertinaciousness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• compliance
• obedience
• subordination
• submission
• tractability
• subservience
• amiability
• agreeability
• submissiveness
• amenability
• subserviency
• slavishness
• deference
• tractableness
• subordinateness
• docility
• trainability
• dutifulness

2

as in opposition

the inclination to resist

the troubled youth seems to have an ingrained defiance to authority of any sort

Synonyms & Similar Words

• opposition
• resistance
• objection
• protest
• remonstrance
• disobedience
• noncompliance
• demur
• compunction
• reservation
• recalcitrance
• misgiving

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• compliance
• acquiescence
• approval
• acceptance
• obedience

3

as in aggression

an inclination to fight or quarrel

a deeply troubled person who seemed the very soul of defiance

Synonyms & Similar Words

• aggression
• aggressiveness
• hostility
• belligerence
• fight
• pugnacity
• militance
• belligerency
• bellicosity
• militancy
• assaultiveness
• combativeness
• feistiness
• truculence
• contentiousness
• scrappiness
• quarrelsomeness
• disputatiousness
• fierceness
• antagonism
• chip on one's shoulder
• irritability
• unfriendliness
• militantness
• irritableness
• imperialism
• petulance
• militarism
• jingoism
• rudeness
• peevishness
• fractiousness
• crossness
• hyperaggressiveness
• surliness
• disagreeableness
• orneriness
• testiness
• irascibility
• querulousness
• fretfulness
• crankiness
• grumpiness
• grouchiness
• captiousness
• huffiness
• pettishness
• waspishness
• biliousness
• acidity
• irascibleness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• pacifism
• nonaggression
• benevolence
• friendliness
• gentleness
• sociability
• cordiality
• graciousness
• geniality
• antimilitarism
• amiability
• affability
• pleasantness
• mildness
• kindliness
• antiaggression
• complaisance
• anti-imperialism
• amicability
• amenability
• placability

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of defiance

In a debate Tuesday in European Parliament in Strasbourg, lawmakers overwhelmingly expressed anxiety alongside defiance over trade with China. — ABC News, 7 Oct. 2026

The plotters could not stop the news of Yeltsin’s defiance from spreading, and the coup collapsed within three days. — Seva Gunitsky, Foreign Affairs, 1 Oct. 2026

Unlike under his family’s 54-year police state – where public defiance could mean prison, torture, disappearance or death – they were allowed to go home. — Tala Alrajjal, CNN Money, 29 Sep. 2026

Her Easter Sunday performance at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 in front of 75,000 spectators remains a touchstone of defiance in an age of racial violence. — Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2026

Phrases Containing defiance

• in defiance of