as in rebellious
given to resisting authority or another's control
several recusant senators refused to vote as commanded by the party leadership
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in resister
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Recent Examples of recusant
Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 15 July 2019
Noun
The uniform of the conformist — sports shirt, cardigan, tennis shoes — is as easily recognized as that of the recusant — dirty white T, sideburns, two days’ growth of beard.
—Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 15 July 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for recusant
Adjective
-
Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery was the law in the rebellious states.—
Doug Ross,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Jan. 2026
-
This wretched regime is doomed to be overthrown by the risen populace and rebellious youth.—
Efrat Lachter,
FOXNews.com,
1 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
There’s also no strategic plan or national campaign in place that assures nonviolent resisters that their involvement is part of a grand strategy.—
Michael Shank,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Oct. 2025
-
Newsom got another fix of national media attention to bolster his image as resister-in-chief to the commander-in-chief, in apparent preparation for a 2028 presidential campaign.—
Dan Walters,
Oc Register,
23 Sep. 2025
Adjective
-
Two men are targeted by the rebel army who overthrew the government of Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzman.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
3 Jan. 2026
-
He was denounced by rebel propagandists as a tyrant and remembered by Americans as a reactionary dolt.—
Bhumika Tharoor,
The Atlantic,
30 Dec. 2025
Adjective
-
Vice President Delcy Rodriguez initially was angry and defiant.—
Arthur I. Cyr,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Jan. 2026
-
Venezuela’s interim leader, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, has alternated between taking a conciliatory approach towards Washington and striking a defiant tone.—
Prashant Rao,
semafor.com,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Language purists like to remind anyone who will listen that decimation actually means the slaughter of one in ten people, and was the military punishment wielded by the Roman army against deserters and mutineers.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
20 Oct. 2025
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Few among the bureaucratic, business, and even military elites denounced the mutineers, exposing limited support for Putin.—
ANDREI YAKOVLEV,
Foreign Affairs,
16 May 2025
Noun
-
But 2026 isn’t 2022, with years of GOP control giving challengers clearer lines of attack.—
Karen Brooks Harper,
Dallas Morning News,
10 Jan. 2026
-
Quigley has filed for re-election for his current seat in Congress and faces four challengers in the Democratic primary election in March.—
Charlie De Mar,
CBS News,
9 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Deporting supposed gang members and Hamas supporters without due process may violate any number of statutes, but forcing oppositionists to defend these people’s rights allows the administration to paint them as defending their ideas.—
Garry Kasparov,
The Atlantic,
17 Apr. 2025
-
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
Noun
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While many are now driven primarily by economic interests, a subset retains insurgent, ant-imperialist commitments.—
Rebecca Hanson,
The Conversation,
6 Jan. 2026
-
That could mean tightening sanctions on remaining power brokers, expanding strikes against security installations and militias, covertly supporting insurgent factions, and using Maduro’s prospective trial as a global stage on which to delegitimize Chavismo once and for all.—
Robert Muggah,
Fortune,
5 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Recusant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/recusant. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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