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

All 16 Florida House incumbents facing primary challengers survived Tuesday, as most state legislative races now turn toward the November general election, where Democrats have fielded challengers in nearly every contest.

— CBS Miami Team, CBS News, 19 Aug. 2026
The two other statewide candidates drawing state matching dollars — Attorney General James Uthmeier and his Democratic challenger Jose Javier Rodriguez — will bypass the primary.

— Jim Turner, Miami Herald, 18 Aug. 2026

Definition of challenger

Noun

Pitcairn Island Pitcairn is British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific that was famously born from the last refuge of the Bounty mutineers, who arrived in 1789 with a small company of Tahitians.

— Scott Laird, Travel + Leisure, 31 July 2026
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

Definition of mutineer

Noun

Relations between the Taliban and Pakistan — initially their most important partner — are tense, as Islamabad accuses Kabul of supporting Pakistani insurgents.

— Reuters, NBC news, 15 Aug. 2026
An insurgent socialist wing, led by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has toppled several incumbent Democrats this midterm cycle.

— Mabinty Quarshie, The Washington Examiner, 13 Aug. 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 21 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of defier

noun

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