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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of recusant
Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 15 July 2019
Adjective
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
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According to the researchers, teenage men tend to favor intense, rebellious genres that fuel identity and independence in a phase that peaks early.—
Maria Azzurra Volpe,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025
-
But the couple have yet to conceive an heir, so when Jerome absconds and his dashing friend Manfred (Galitzine) arrives with dastardly intentions, Hero (Corrin), Cherry’s wily and loyal maid, is forced to concoct a plan to distract Manfred by telling captivating stories about rebellious women.—
Lily Ford,
HollywoodReporter,
19 Oct. 2025
Noun
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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
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The answer is that France at this time was attempting to heal its wartime wounds, papering over the cracks in the social fabric that had opened up during the German Occupation and positioning itself as a nation of resisters, in which collaborators had been few and aberrant.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
30 July 2025
Adjective
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The 64-year-old actor famously portrays rebel leader Morpheus, captain of the Nebuchadnezzar, in the hit sci-fi action film franchise.—
Erin Clack,
PEOPLE,
18 Oct. 2025
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The palace officials assured them the president was there, hashing out a plan with his military and Russian and Iranian advisers to confront the advancing rebel forces.—
Danny Makki,
New York Times,
16 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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On Monday afternoon, Petro remained defiant.—
Nora Gámez Torres,
Miami Herald,
21 Oct. 2025
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This Irish American neighborhood is famous for its quirky upside-down traffic light, where green proudly sits above red—a symbol of its defiant community spirit.—
Lauren Dana Ellman,
Travel + Leisure,
19 Oct. 2025
Noun
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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
Adjective
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The spokesperson said that an immigration judge had terminated his permanent resident status and ordered his removal on June 23, 2022, citing fraud and willful misrepresentation.—
Billal Rahman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Oct. 2025
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Tessa Thompson stars as the willful heroine, married to a rather meek academic, George Tesman (Tom Bateman), who’s angling for an important university position.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
Time,
22 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Absent replacing party sinecurists with able, energetic people, nothing can keep candidates from adopting this agenda on their own—as some younger primary challengers of Democratic incumbents are already starting to do.—
David Wingrave,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Oct. 2025
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Jorgensen was elected to the council in 2021 and is seeking a second term against five challengers.—
Angela Palermo,
Idaho Statesman,
23 Oct. 2025
Noun
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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
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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
Cite this Entry
“Recusant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/recusant. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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