as in insurrections
open fighting against authority (as one's own government)
there always seems to be insurgency of some type in that troubled country
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Recent Examples of insurgencies
Recent history in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq suggests that insurgencies can wear down regular armies over time.
—
Hussein Ibish, The Atlantic, 1 Oct. 2025
Unlike some other ethnic armed organizations leading insurgencies against the junta, the KNA is a pro-junta militia formally folded into the army’s command.
—Dan Swift, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2025
African states, too, have started hiring Russian, Turkish, Romanian, and South African private military companies (PMCs) to battle insurgencies, to deploy drones against jihadists, and to reclaim resource-rich areas taken over by rebels.
—Alia Brahimi, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Sep. 2025
The area has been engulfed in decades-long conflict between armed ethnic groups and the Burmese authorities, who are now fighting multiple insurgencies following the 2021 military coup and its violent crackdown on opposition forces.
—Tommy Tuberville, Newsweek, 7 Mar. 2025
Gang members burned schools and police stations, raided the country’s two largest prisons and led insurgencies in many parts of the capital.
—Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 2 Mar. 2025
With the exception of some far-right voices, few in Israel want to be stuck in Gaza forever, responsible for 3 million Palestinians and facing likely insurgencies.
—Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, TIME, 17 Oct. 2024
Hussein Ibish, The Atlantic, 1 Oct. 2025
Unlike some other ethnic armed organizations leading insurgencies against the junta, the KNA is a pro-junta militia formally folded into the army’s command.
—Dan Swift, Foreign Affairs, 30 Sep. 2025
African states, too, have started hiring Russian, Turkish, Romanian, and South African private military companies (PMCs) to battle insurgencies, to deploy drones against jihadists, and to reclaim resource-rich areas taken over by rebels.
—Alia Brahimi, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Sep. 2025
The area has been engulfed in decades-long conflict between armed ethnic groups and the Burmese authorities, who are now fighting multiple insurgencies following the 2021 military coup and its violent crackdown on opposition forces.
—Tommy Tuberville, Newsweek, 7 Mar. 2025
Gang members burned schools and police stations, raided the country’s two largest prisons and led insurgencies in many parts of the capital.
—Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 2 Mar. 2025
With the exception of some far-right voices, few in Israel want to be stuck in Gaza forever, responsible for 3 million Palestinians and facing likely insurgencies.
—Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, TIME, 17 Oct. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insurgencies
Noun
-
The president can also legally invoke the military under the Insurrection Act, which allows troops to be deployed in order to curb insurrections.—
Alison Durkee,
Forbes.com,
11 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Wars that lasted a hundred years, wars between Lutherans and Catholics and between Christians and Muslims, the siege of Constantinople, Mitteleuropa’s peasant rebellions, the lowland’s revolt against Spain, England’s conquest of Ireland.—
Greg Grandin
September 23,
Literary Hub,
23 Sep. 2025
-
Police would kill many more people in the rebellions that occasionally broke out afterwards, in Miami and Los Angeles and elsewhere.—
Tom O'Connor,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The uprisings moved through the region as the Arab Spring ignited, and tens of millions of frustrated residents went online to coordinate.—
Mandy Taheri,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Oct. 2025
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More multicasts of our sonic uprisings to compete with America's myopic narrowcasting.—
Rodney Carmichael,
NPR,
1 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Peasant revolts have been a thing right alongside revolutionary history the entire time.—
Nikki McCann Ramirez,
Rolling Stone,
22 Sep. 2025
-
One can scarcely draw solace from the trajectories of those recent revolts.—
Kapil Komireddi,
New Yorker,
22 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Insurgencies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insurgencies. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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