DEFIER Synonyms: 28 Similar and Opposite Words

defier

noun

Definition of defier

as in resister

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of defier Evan Turk’s provocative and emotive illustrations, portraits within this portrait, bring swirling movement and feeling to the story of this defier and definer of the times. — BostonGlobe.com, 22 Apr. 2021 Everybody enjoys being thought of as a scofflaw, or a hell-raiser, or defier of authority, especially if such activity happened in the past. — Karen Martin, Arkansas Online, 29 Nov. 2020 Critics see a reckless defier of laws and norms who must be held to account. — Chicago Tribune, Twin Cities, 17 Nov. 2019 Belichick is the league’s most prominent convention-defier; Schwartz is a veteran myth-buster. — Michael Rosenberg, SI.com, 2 Feb. 2018 Roy Moore, defier of Supreme Courts, thumper of Bibles, hater of gays and everyone else who is not exactly like Roy Moore, is the Republican nominee for Senate in Alabama. — Sarah Jones, New Republic, 27 Sep. 2017

Recent Examples of Synonyms for defier

Noun

In November 1971, Berkeley, California, became the first sanctuary city in the country when 12 local churches inspired the City Council to pass a resolution offering sanctuary to draft resisters.

— Menika Dirkson, The Conversation, 8 Apr. 2026
Clemson resister Dabo Swinney has driven his program into the ground.

— Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2026

Definition of resister

Noun

Ethan O’Connor seems well positioned for one of those jobs, and the prime challengers for the other are Damari Brown (whose availability is always a question because of the troublesome foot issue) and impressive second-year player Ja’boree Antoine.

— Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 21 July 2026
His leading challenger is Daniel Keenan, a construction-company founder and a former forklift operator.

— The New Yorker, New Yorker, 21 July 2026

Definition of challenger

Noun

The Houthi rebels have long been backed by Iran and reviled by Saudi Arabia.

— Chris Lau, CNN Money, 26 July 2026
Further complicating exports, Yemen's Houthi rebels are now disrupting shipping in the Bab El-Mandeb Strait, targeting Saudi tankers and threatening an alternative oil route.

— Gaurav Sharma, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026

Definition of rebel

Noun

Pitcairn is well-known as the island on which Fletcher Christian and other British mutineers from the HMS Bounty took refuge after the 1789 events that toppled Capt.

— Matthew Lee, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2026
Or an historian of Polynesian culture giving a lecture about tattooing, or the time Captain Bligh stopped on the atoll to look for the mutineer Fletcher Christian.

— Antonia Quirke, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Jan. 2026

Definition of mutineer

Noun

The attack occurred in Mastung, a district in Balochistan province where separatist insurgents have stepped up attacks on security forces and civilians in recent months.

— ABC News, ABC News, 23 July 2026
One of the insurgents, a doctoral student in sociology named Darializa Avila Chevalier, is far more emblematic of the DSA’s radicalism.

— James Kirchick, The Atlantic, 21 July 2026

Definition of insurgent

Noun

Yesterday, in an effort to galvanize democratic forces, oppositionists announced the foundation of the Strategic Council of Republicans Inside Iran.

— Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 1 Mar. 2026
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is a Sunni Islamist umbrella group of oppositionist forces with ideological and organizational roots in al-Qaeda.

— Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2024

Definition of oppositionist

Noun

As the head of China’s Nationalist government, Chiang and his party were trying to establish control in a nation divided among revolutionists, nationalists, Indigenous warlords, and a developing communist army and government.

— Susan Tate Ankeny, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Apr. 2024
Many revolutionists see heavy tank casualties in Ukraine as the key indicator for the tank’s looming obsolescence in the face of newly lethal precision antitank weapons.

— Stephen Biddle, Foreign Affairs, 10 Aug. 2023

Definition of revolutionist

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“Defier.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defier. Accessed 31 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of defier

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