as in insurgents
a person who rises up against authority
the rebel would not submit peacefully, even after he was captured
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in revolts
to rise up against established authority
the colonists rebelled in the wake of an onslaught of abuses
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rebels
CBS News, 12 June 2026
The celebratory tours take visitors through the city's historic brick roads and along the bayfront, uncovering colonial stories of East Florida's loyalty to the British, imprisoned founding fathers and patriot rebels.
—Amy Galo, FOXNews.com, 12 June 2026
Norm is one of Vault 33’s few skeptics or rebels.
—The Deadline Team, Deadline, 10 June 2026
Cepeda, an ally of President Gustavo Petro and a former member of Colombia's communist party, has acted as a mediator between Colombia’s government and Marxist rebels.
—ABC News, 9 June 2026
The rebels never attempted a similar stunt again.
—Clint Smith, The Atlantic, 9 June 2026
Cuba’s nationalization wave began soon after Fidel Castro’s rebels took control of the island in 1959.
—Max Saltman, CNN Money, 4 June 2026
Gangs, rebels, and soldiers started massacring elephants, sometimes from military helicopters.
—Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 June 2026
To punish rebels for their treason, Parliament passed the Restraining Act of 1775, banning New Englanders from fishing on the Atlantic Ocean.
—Christopher Magra, The Conversation, 2 June 2026
Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 18 Mar. 2026
Set against the backdrop of the 1998 São Paulo World Cup between Brazil and France, Amarela follows 14-year-old Erika Oguihara (Melissa Uehara), a Japanese Brazilian sports fanatic who rebels against her family’s more Japanese cultural traditions.
—Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 10 Jan. 2026
As the professor navigates retirement, the baby grows into a rambunctious child who rebels against the traditions of her fishing community.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2025
Noun
Analysts, including those at the ISP-M, say China has intermittently backed both Myanmar's ruling military, and the rebels that military is battling in the country's civil war, depending on its varying economic and security interests.
—CBS News, 12 June 2026
The celebratory tours take visitors through the city's historic brick roads and along the bayfront, uncovering colonial stories of East Florida's loyalty to the British, imprisoned founding fathers and patriot rebels.
—Amy Galo, FOXNews.com, 12 June 2026
Norm is one of Vault 33’s few skeptics or rebels.
—The Deadline Team, Deadline, 10 June 2026
Cepeda, an ally of President Gustavo Petro and a former member of Colombia's communist party, has acted as a mediator between Colombia’s government and Marxist rebels.
—ABC News, 9 June 2026
The rebels never attempted a similar stunt again.
—Clint Smith, The Atlantic, 9 June 2026
Cuba’s nationalization wave began soon after Fidel Castro’s rebels took control of the island in 1959.
—Max Saltman, CNN Money, 4 June 2026
Gangs, rebels, and soldiers started massacring elephants, sometimes from military helicopters.
—Encyclopedia Britannica, 3 June 2026
To punish rebels for their treason, Parliament passed the Restraining Act of 1775, banning New Englanders from fishing on the Atlantic Ocean.
—Christopher Magra, The Conversation, 2 June 2026
Verb
Masahiro Motoki — the Oscar-winning star of Departures — plays a lord who rebels against warlord Oda Nobunaga and barricades himself inside Arioka Castle, only to face a string of unsolved murders within its walls.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 18 Mar. 2026
Set against the backdrop of the 1998 São Paulo World Cup between Brazil and France, Amarela follows 14-year-old Erika Oguihara (Melissa Uehara), a Japanese Brazilian sports fanatic who rebels against her family’s more Japanese cultural traditions.
—Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 10 Jan. 2026
As the professor navigates retirement, the baby grows into a rambunctious child who rebels against the traditions of her fishing community.
—The New Yorker, New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rebels
Noun
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After Daft Punk’s rise from underground dance music heroes to chart-topping pop insurgents, Bangalter followed different muses in different directions.—
Andy Battaglia,
ARTnews.com,
8 June 2026
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That legacy includes crushing both hyperinflation and the Maoist insurgents of the Shining Path, who bathed Peru in blood in the 1980s and 1990s.—
Simeon Tegel,
NPR,
6 June 2026
Noun
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Not helping was Parliament’s passage of the Tea Act in 1773, to which revolutionaries responded by dumping tea into Boston Harbor.—
Laurie Kellman,
Los Angeles Times,
3 June 2026
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Not helping was Parliament's passage of the Tea Act in 1773, to which revolutionaries responded by dumping tea into Boston Harbor.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
3 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Rebels.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rebels. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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