Synonyms of mutiny

mutiny 1 of 2

noun

ˈmyü-tə-nē 

as in revolt

open fighting against authority (as one's own government)

a mutiny led by the ship's cook

Synonyms & Similar Words

• revolt
• insurrection
• uprising
• rebellion
• insurgency
• revolution
• outbreak
• insurgence
• coup
• overthrow
• treachery
• rising
• treason
• sedition
• coup d'état
• sabotage
• subversion
• coup d'etat
• misprision

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• counterinsurgency
• counterrevolution

mutiny

2 of 2

verb

as in to rebel

to rise up against established authority

the party's conservative faction mutinied just before the election

Synonyms & Similar Words

• rebel
• revolt
• kick over the traces
• disobey
• resist
• fight
• mock
• contest
• revolutionize
• combat
• withstand
• oppose
• defy
• buck

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• follow
• comply (with)
• submit
• serve
• obey
• mind
• attend

Synonym Chooser

How does the noun mutiny differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of mutiny are insurrection, rebellion, revolt, revolution, and uprising. While all these words mean "an outbreak against authority," mutiny applies to group insubordination or insurrection especially against naval authority.

a mutiny led by the ship's cook

When could rebellion be used to replace mutiny?

The synonyms rebellion and mutiny are sometimes interchangeable, but rebellion implies an open formidable resistance that is often unsuccessful.

open rebellion against the officers

How do revolt and insurrection relate to one another, in the sense of mutiny?

Both revolt and insurrection imply an armed uprising that quickly fails or succeeds.

a revolt by the Young Turks that surprised party leaders

an insurrection of oppressed laborers

When is it sensible to use revolution instead of mutiny?

While the synonyms revolution and mutiny are close in meaning, revolution applies to a successful rebellion resulting in a major change (as in government).

a political revolution that toppled the monarchy

When can uprising be used instead of mutiny?

Although the words uprising and mutiny have much in common, uprising implies a brief, limited, and often immediately ineffective rebellion.

quickly put down the uprising

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of mutiny

Noun

Death in a hail of bullets has been used to punish mutinies and desertion in armies, as frontier justice in America’s Old West, and as a tool of terror and political repression in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. —Jeffrey Collins, Los Angeles Times, 8 Mar. 2025

Business leaders face challenges, including the frantic need for speedy decision-making, unexpected market shifts, geopolitical volatility, internal mutinies, power plays and harrowing decisions that can hurt the livelihood of their teams by cutting jobs. —Carlo Tortora Brayda, Forbes, 6 Mar. 2025

Verb

Jackie Calmes: McCarthy flopped, Gaetz mutinied, but blame the chaos on the entire Republican Party. —Helen Li, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2023

More recently, Tytler and his young wife, Harriet Tytler—she eight months pregnant, with two small children at her side—had narrowly escaped Delhi in 1857, when the sepoys, or Indian infantrymen, mutinied. —Adam Goodheart, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Sep. 2023