as in rebels
a person who rises up against authority
the government subjected the insurgents to the most inhuman torture imaginable
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Recent Examples of insurgents
The misery wrought by insurgents in largely ungoverned spaces will push people to flee.
—
Ulf Laessing, semafor.com, 30 Apr. 2026
Tribune correspondents Ronald Yates — who was one of the last American journalists to leave Phnom Penh when the Cambodian capital fell to insurgents just weeks earlier — and Philip Caputo lost contact with the newspaper in South Vietnam just before Saigon was overtaken by communist North Vietnam.
—Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 30 Apr. 2026
That song’s twangful snarl — wonderfully sung by Clark, a star recording artist in her own right — is a reminder that these insurgents are also preservationists, capable of delivering old-fashioned pleasures to please the purists.
—New York Times, 28 Apr. 2026
Since insurgents ousted former President Bashar Assad in December 2024, dozens of members of his security agencies that were blamed for atrocities during the conflict have been arrested.
—ABC News, 24 Apr. 2026
While serving a tour of duty outside the province of Kandahar in Afghanistan in August of 2011, he was ambushed by Taliban insurgents disguised in Afghan National Army uniforms.
—Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2026
To Alfredo De Avila, of the Oakland Center for Third World Organizing, the UFW’s claims that Communist insurgents are plotting against Chavez and his union highlight how far the UFW has fallen.
—Marcos Breton, Sacbee.com, 24 Mar. 2026
Bakri is more brittle in Farah Nabulsi’s The Teacher as Basem, a Palestinian teacher in the West Bank whose support for insurgents grows after his own son dies in prison and as Israeli settlers brutalize his neighborhood.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 24 Mar. 2026
That kind of chaos could easily spill over Iran’s borders, and not just by land; the Persian Gulf is narrow, and would not pose much of an obstacle to terrorists or insurgents who cross it in speedboats.
—Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 6 Mar. 2026
Ulf Laessing, semafor.com, 30 Apr. 2026
Tribune correspondents Ronald Yates — who was one of the last American journalists to leave Phnom Penh when the Cambodian capital fell to insurgents just weeks earlier — and Philip Caputo lost contact with the newspaper in South Vietnam just before Saigon was overtaken by communist North Vietnam.
—Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 30 Apr. 2026
That song’s twangful snarl — wonderfully sung by Clark, a star recording artist in her own right — is a reminder that these insurgents are also preservationists, capable of delivering old-fashioned pleasures to please the purists.
—New York Times, 28 Apr. 2026
Since insurgents ousted former President Bashar Assad in December 2024, dozens of members of his security agencies that were blamed for atrocities during the conflict have been arrested.
—ABC News, 24 Apr. 2026
While serving a tour of duty outside the province of Kandahar in Afghanistan in August of 2011, he was ambushed by Taliban insurgents disguised in Afghan National Army uniforms.
—Letters To The Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2026
To Alfredo De Avila, of the Oakland Center for Third World Organizing, the UFW’s claims that Communist insurgents are plotting against Chavez and his union highlight how far the UFW has fallen.
—Marcos Breton, Sacbee.com, 24 Mar. 2026
Bakri is more brittle in Farah Nabulsi’s The Teacher as Basem, a Palestinian teacher in the West Bank whose support for insurgents grows after his own son dies in prison and as Israeli settlers brutalize his neighborhood.
—Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 24 Mar. 2026
That kind of chaos could easily spill over Iran’s borders, and not just by land; the Persian Gulf is narrow, and would not pose much of an obstacle to terrorists or insurgents who cross it in speedboats.
—Robert F. Worth, The Atlantic, 6 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insurgents
Noun
-
Mali was struck late last month by one of the biggest coordinated attacks on its army in Bamako and several other cities by jihadis and rebels who seized several towns and military bases.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
4 May 2026
-
The rebels were fully aware of these other colonies and sought to include them.—
Daniel Immerwahr,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
Noun
-
The second includes former revolutionaries, reformists, communist factions and groups such as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), many of whom emerged from or once supported the revolutionary system before later opposing it.—
Efrat Lachter,
FOXNews.com,
28 Apr. 2026
-
In 1777, he was summoned to Paris to meet with American revolutionaries, including Benjamin Franklin.—
Amanda Rosa
Updated April 28,
Miami Herald,
28 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Insurgents.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insurgents. Accessed 11 May. 2026.
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