as in rebellious
given to resisting authority or another's control
today's rebel chefs feel free to ignore the dictates of classic French cuisine
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in insurgent
a person who rises up against authority
the rebel would not submit peacefully, even after he was captured
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to revolt
to rise up against established authority
the colonists rebelled in the wake of an onslaught of abuses
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rebel
Nicolas Niarchos, Vanity Fair, 20 Feb. 2026
To give voice to Congolese citizens, Anderson spoke with figures ranging from rebel leaders to medical personnel, from a regional king to an elderly woman tending subsistence crops in a cemetery.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 18 Feb. 2026
Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2026
Some diarists write to report, reveal, rebel, resist.
—Literary Hub, 4 Mar. 2026
Justin Davidson, Curbed, 10 Feb. 2026
Those members and a few others previously rebelled on a procedural vote that would have extended the prohibition on calling the tariff-repeal votes until March.
—Laura Kelly, The Hill, 9 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for rebel
Adjective
The country’s longtime dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, had been overthrown, and a new order was being shaped under the rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila.
—Nicolas Niarchos, Vanity Fair, 20 Feb. 2026
To give voice to Congolese citizens, Anderson spoke with figures ranging from rebel leaders to medical personnel, from a regional king to an elderly woman tending subsistence crops in a cemetery.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 18 Feb. 2026
Noun
Earlier in 2025, the United States carried out air strikes in Iraq, waged a roughly seven-week offensive against Houthi rebels in Yemen, and carried out the aforementioned attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
—Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2026
Some diarists write to report, reveal, rebel, resist.
—Literary Hub, 4 Mar. 2026
Verb
The neighborhood, including Northwest Bronx, rebelled, pointing out that mall jobs paid little, small businesses would be crushed, and profits would be siphoned away to national corporations.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 10 Feb. 2026
Those members and a few others previously rebelled on a procedural vote that would have extended the prohibition on calling the tariff-repeal votes until March.
—Laura Kelly, The Hill, 9 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for rebel
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rebel
Adjective
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Theirs was a rebellious poetics of beauty, or a beautiful poetics of rebellion.—
Taran Dugal,
New Yorker,
4 Mar. 2026
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Yet his work is perhaps closer to the rebellious energy of Dutch painter Theo van Doesburg, for whom the diagonal line was synonymous with disruption.—
Elinore Weil,
Artforum,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
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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
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Paxton will counter that Texas runoffs often reward insurgents.—
Gromer Jeffers Jr,
Dallas Morning News,
4 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The thought of kissing the cloth is revolting.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
4 Mar. 2026
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The sans-serif typeface closely resembles that of the intertitles seen in Octavio Getino and Fernando Solanas’s revolutionary film La hora de los hornos (Hour of the Furnaces, 1968), which exhorted the Argentinian people to revolt against the Onganía regime.—
Daniel R. Quiles,
Artforum,
1 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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Paxton was defiant when speaking to a few hundred supporters at a Dallas hotel ballroom, a far different scene than Cornyn's small press conference.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
4 Mar. 2026
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Paxton was defiant when speaking to a few hundred supporters at a Dallas hotel ballroom on Tuesday night, a far different scene from Cornyn’s small news conference.—
Steve Peoples,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Almost fifty years ago, Iran’s revolutionaries introduced a militant brand of Shiite Islam as a viable medium of political opposition and governance.—
Robin Wright,
New Yorker,
1 Mar. 2026
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Once back in power, Perón—and, after his death in 1974, his wife and successor, Isabelita—would demonize the revolutionaries as terrorists.—
Daniel R. Quiles,
Artforum,
1 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Treated by many Americans as a traitor who had mutinied, Mr. Thompson was threatened with prosecution by lawmakers before being recognized decades later as a hero.—
Anna Mulrine Grobe,
Christian Science Monitor,
6 Dec. 2025
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The 16th-century adventurer, who first circumnavigated the globe by sea in 1522, wavers beneath the pressure of his pursuit, ultimately leading his men to mutiny and madness on the Malay Archipelago.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
18 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Rebel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rebel. Accessed 12 Mar. 2026.
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