REBELS Synonyms: 49 Similar and Opposite Words

rebels 1 of 2

noun

plural of rebel

as in insurgents

a person who rises up against authority the rebel would not submit peacefully, even after he was captured

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rebels

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of rebel

as in revolts

to rise up against established authority the colonists rebelled in the wake of an onslaught of abuses

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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 rebels

Noun

The most recent, Vietnam, was won by the communist rebels, and that country is stable today. — Chicago Tribune, 27 Oct. 2026 In December 2024, Syrian rebels streamed into Damascus in a surprise attack that toppled President Bashar al-Assad and put an end to more than 13 bloody years of civil war. — Emily Feng, Washington Post, 26 Oct. 2026 Ships sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, however, still face attacks from Iran, while the Bab el-Mandeb Strait near Yemen has been threatened by the Houthi rebels. — Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 23 Oct. 2026 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 This is Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak and has spread to eight provinces, coinciding with an escalation of decades-long conflict in the east between government forces and rebels. — ABC News, 21 Oct. 2026 Honorable rebels take a stand, work, and sacrifice, even against self-interest to bravely bring about something other than the chaos that naturally exists without applied effort to create something good. — Joe Kinsey Outkick, FOXNews.com, 20 Oct. 2026 The rebels urged their forces to continue fighting and called on Tigrayans to support them. — Arkansas Online, 17 Oct. 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

Polling averages put Democratic insurgents narrowly ahead or virtually tied with GOP rivals in all the states.

— Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 2 Nov. 2026
Will the Democrats have to contend with left-wing insurgents like Republicans did the Tea Party?

— Brian Steinberg, Variety, 29 Oct. 2026

Definition of insurgents

Noun

Like his fellow revolutionaries, Jefferson recoiled from such aspects of empire, past and present.

— Jackson Lears, Harpers Magazine, 27 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