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
Synonyms & Similar Words
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
ABC News, 3 Mar. 2026
The Rebel Loon Project, which uses a a version of the rebel loon logo shared online as available for free use, has heard from supporters of other MLS teams.
—Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 27 Feb. 2026
Randy Myers, Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2026
Winnie Cheung, United States, 2025 A motorcycle rebel spirals deeper into her erotic hallucinations in order to escape the grip of a sultry serpent woman.
—William Earl, Variety, 25 Mar. 2026
Tim Greiving, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2026
The Laughing Storm rebelled against the crown, but the short rebellion came to an end after Dunk and Lyonel engaged in single combat with Dunk emerging victorious.
—James Grebey, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for rebel
Adjective
Colombia’s government has struggled to contain drug traffickers and rebel groups that are now fighting over territory abandoned by the nation’s largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, following its 2016 peace deal with the government.
—ABC News, 3 Mar. 2026
The Rebel Loon Project, which uses a a version of the rebel loon logo shared online as available for free use, has heard from supporters of other MLS teams.
—Andy Greder, Twin Cities, 27 Feb. 2026
Noun
Season 2 springboards on Fisk’s strongarm rule and his mandate to clean up the streets of rebels via his brutish Anti-Vigilante Task Force, which rounds up people – echoing recent INS maneuvers – and shoves them into deplorable conditions and cages.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 26 Mar. 2026
Winnie Cheung, United States, 2025 A motorcycle rebel spirals deeper into her erotic hallucinations in order to escape the grip of a sultry serpent woman.
—William Earl, Variety, 25 Mar. 2026
Verb
Her father, who as a teenager in Tallinn began to rebel against Sovietization, insisted on teaching Stasevska and her two younger brothers to speak Ukrainian at home.
—Tim Greiving, Los Angeles Times, 27 Feb. 2026
The Laughing Storm rebelled against the crown, but the short rebellion came to an end after Dunk and Lyonel engaged in single combat with Dunk emerging victorious.
—James Grebey, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for rebel
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rebel
Adjective
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The 8-episode first season charts the improbable ascent of Joe and Rose Kennedy and their nine children, including rebellious second son Jack, who struggles to escape the shadow of his golden boy older brother.—
Denise Petski,
Deadline,
27 Mar. 2026
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In a mountain resort, rebellious snowboarders uncover a nuclear conspiracy in a uranium mine.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
27 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The act as insurgent against privilege, set to die in the rot of reason.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
31 Mar. 2026
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Mills’s primary opponent, oyster farmer and progressive insurgent Graham Platner, echoed other outsiders last year in calling for Schumer to lose his leadership post over his government shutdown dealings with Republicans.—
Ramsey Touchberry,
The Washington Examiner,
28 Mar. 2026
Verb
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While peers like Coco Chanel or Christian Dior made clothing that was radically simple or effusively beautiful, Schiaparelli embraced what was surprising, in bad taste or even revolting (a pair of 1938 monkey fur boots, for example).—
Rachel Tashjian,
CNN Money,
28 Mar. 2026
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House Republicans are scrambling to find the votes for a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, as conservatives threaten to revolt over the exclusion of funding for deportations and re-up demands that the SAVE America Act be attached.—
Rachel Schilke,
The Washington Examiner,
27 Mar. 2026
Adjective
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In mid-19th century Iran, painter Nowruz falls for a fearlessly defiant Roma fortune teller, sparking their desperate flight and a tragic saga echoing down generations, the synopsis runs.—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
31 Mar. 2026
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Near the close of the No Kings rally in Lincolnwood on Saturday afternoon, the chants rang out from beneath the waving American flag with a defiant twist.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
31 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The game happened to be on November 18th, the anniversary of Haitian revolutionaries defeating the French Army in 1803 before declaring independence.—
Albert Samaha,
New Yorker,
31 Mar. 2026
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Fidel Castro, either wanting to protect his family’s privacy or maintain the mystique of a revolutionary who only had time for his country, never publicly disclosed the family.—
Patrick Oppmann,
CNN Money,
30 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 3 Apr. 2026.
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