OPPOSITIONIST Synonyms: 28 Similar and Opposite Words

oppositionist

noun

Definition of oppositionist

as in challenger

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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 oppositionist 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 Within Russia, the oppositionists’ challenges are far greater. — Michael Kimmage, Foreign Affairs, 18 Sep. 2024 Characteristically, Navalny tried to buck up his fellow oppositionists. — The Editors, National Review, 16 Feb. 2024

Recent Examples of Synonyms for oppositionist

Noun

Matsui, 82, faces progressive challenger and Sacramento Councilmember Mai Vang for the 7th Congressional District, which includes Sacramento’s downtown core, Elk Grove, Placerville and El Dorado Hills.

— Mathew Miranda, Sacbee.com, 20 Oct. 2026
Republican Ryan Mackenzie will look to defend his seat against Democratic challenger Bob Brooks.

— Dan Snyder, CBS News, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of challenger

Noun

The war next door United Nations experts have documented Rwandan military support for M23 rebels, which have seized territory in eastern DRC.

— Nimi Princewill, CNN Money, 22 Oct. 2026
But the rebels also have an array of relatively cheap drones, including weapons supplied by Iran, and locally made copies of Iranian attack drones.

— Frank Andrews, CBS News, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of rebel

Noun

Raman, who now occupies the insurgent role in the race, seemed to see the fires less as an indictment of the system than of Bass.

— Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2026
Rwanda has acknowledged defensive â€œsecurity coordinationâ€� with the M23 insurgents, who have held large swaths of mineral-rich eastern DR Congo for more than a year.

— Ruben Nyanguila, semafor.com, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of insurgent

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

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

Noun

At the time, the project felt hyperbolic, largely because of the finger-wagging interventions of Zillah, a modern-day punk anarchist who ranted about Reagan as a new Hitler.

— Emily Nussbaum, New Yorker, 23 Oct. 2026
The situation on the ground is unpredictable because the students, communists, anarchists, anti-Israel and other protesters that have collaborated to make France a worse place to visit in recent days might do something no one expects.

— Armando Salguero OutKick, FOXNews.com, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of anarchist

Noun

Danny Trejo has played a Mexican revolutionary, a Mexican cop, a Mexican cartel assassin and, of course, a Mexican ex-con who kills bad guys with a machete.

— Benjamin Svetkey, HollywoodReporter, 21 Oct. 2026
But, even then, American socialists walked a fine line—they were considered too radical for the mainstream and a mere bourgeois affectation by committed class revolutionaries.

— Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2026

Definition of revolutionary

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“Oppositionist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/oppositionist. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of oppositionist

noun

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