DISSIDENT Synonyms: 38 Similar and Opposite Words

dissident 1 of 2

adjective

ˈdi-sə-dənt

Definition of dissident

as in dissenting

deviating from commonly accepted beliefs or practices dissident elements within the Catholic Church

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

dissident

2 of 2

noun

as in dissenter

a person who believes, teaches, or advocates something opposed to accepted beliefs the conference drew political dissidents of every ilk

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Example Sentences

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 dissident

Adjective

His release, however, does not mean Cuba’s crackdown on dissident artists is finally over. — Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 20 July 2026 In neighboring Iraq, a base of the Kurdistan Freedom Party, an Iranian Kurdish dissident group, near Irbil was struck by a drone early Sunday, wounding eight of its members, according to Rebaz Sharifi, a military official with the group. — Arkansas Online, 19 July 2026

Noun

In Cauca department, FARC dissidents used explosives to destroy a tollbooth under construction along the Pan-American Highway near Santander de Quilichao, according to the army. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 10 Aug. 2026 But Alicia soon begins to suspect that her daughter is one of the children grotesquely stolen from the desaparecidos, dissidents disappeared by the country’s authoritarian junta, and that her husband might be in on the repugnant scheme. — David Faris, TheWeek, 27 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for dissident

Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissident

Adjective

The Fed’s interest rate-setting committee is divided and saw the most dissenting votes in more than three decades last month.

— Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 13 May 2026
Board member Renee Paschall cast the lone dissenting vote on the final package.

— Elizabeth Sander, San Antonio Express-News, 19 Aug. 2022

Definition of dissenting

Noun

Their restricted status turned many into dissenters and activists, often tailed by the KGB and getting their phone lines cut in an effort to keep their stories quiet.

— Maura Fox, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Aug. 2026
This echoed recent comments from three dissenters — Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan — who supported pulling the trigger on a quarter-point rate hike.

— Andrew Moran, Baltimore Sun, 20 Aug. 2026

Definition of dissenter

Adjective

Middlemarch George Eliot’s unconventional Victorian novel upends expectations while crafting a complex portrait of family and individual life in fictional Middlemarch, North Loamshire.

— Caroline Rogers, Southern Living, 22 Aug. 2026
In it, Leó, a renowned geriatrician specialized in Alzheimer’s disease, develops an unconventional friendship with Ásdís, a psychiatrist who’s returned to Iceland to care for her ailing grandmother.

— Annika Pham, Variety, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of unconventional

Noun

In Russell, the director found a star who could match his renegade energy.

— Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Aug. 2026
But instead of employing a ball gown, glass slippers, and a grand carriage made from a pumpkin, the renegade maid comes to her damsel in distress armed with a different kind of escape plan—one involving an axe and a double parricide.

— Savannah Walsh, Vanity Fair, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of renegade

Adjective

The design was by aviation legend Burt Rutan, known for his bold and often maverick creations.

— Jacopo Prisco, CNN, 27 Jan. 2023
But the true landmark was Pierre Balmain’s Vent Vert, created by maverick female perfumer Germaine Cellier (also the mastermind behind Robert Piguet’s showstopping Fracas) in 1947.

— Town & Country, Town & Country, 19 Dec. 2022

Definition of maverick

Adjective

This dogmatic approach to revolutionary citizenship led to the horrible treatment of any perceived as nonconformist, such as LGBTQ people, hippies or punks.

— Juan Carlos Albarran, The Conversation, 13 July 2026
In the end, Levine’s profile of the nonconformist genius reveals just how superb a dancer Cole was.

— R. Daniel Foster, Forbes.com, 27 May 2026

Definition of nonconformist

Adjective

Within years, the iconoclastic comic was a weary and defeated man — broke, baggy-eyed, and prematurely old.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug. 2026
But for the iconoclastic Coppola, a desire to work with an up-and-coming actor, who his friends Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese had discovered and was not yet a star, became the other key impetus to make the film.

— Chris O'Falt, IndieWire, 14 Aug. 2026

Definition of iconoclastic

Adjective

That led to cycles of reform and renovation, as well as backlash, chiefly from cultural conservatives, who saw the adoption of western European habits and attitudes as abominable and even heretical.

— Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2026
In the 14th century, Bibles in English became associated with John Wycliffe, a priest who criticized corruption in the Catholic Church, and whose views on Holy Communion the church had declared heretical.

— Michael Bruening, The Conversation, 30 June 2026

Definition of heretical

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“Dissident.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissident. Accessed 25 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of dissident

adjective

noun

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