as in rebel
someone who tries to overthrow or undermine a governing power
They were outted as subversives and exiled from the country.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in violent
seeking to overthrow or undermine a governing power
A subversive organization determined to unseat a leader who they believed operated outside the law.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for subversive
Noun
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Also starring Jamie Lee Curtis, the original 2003 flick found Lohan’s character — a teenage rebel who fronts a rock band called Pink Slip — magically switching bodies with her mother.—
Hannah Dailey,
Billboard,
28 May 2025 -
Bo was a rebel on a motorcycle who soon fell for the rich and spirited Hope.—
Victoria Edel,
People.com,
26 May 2025
Adjective
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The protests had been largely peaceful throughout Friday and Saturday, with isolated instances of violent activity.—
Michael Wilner,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2025
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Noni finds herself up against Lion’s violent henchmen and women in series of fight-to-the-death encounters aboard the tyrant’s grandiose sailing ship, which lies at the heart of a vast naval fleet.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
9 June 2025
Noun
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For decades, the Philippine armed forces battled insurgents in the southern reaches of the archipelago.—
ELY RATNER,
Foreign Affairs,
27 May 2025
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The insurgents have become the establishment, and the purpose of the establishment is always to protect itself.—
Chris Stirewalt,
The Hill,
23 May 2025
Adjective
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How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food The prose in Nigella Lawson’s revolutionary How to Eat is evocative enough that you will be tempted to read it like a novel.—
Hayley Maitland,
Vogue,
7 June 2025
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The problem with most revolutionary acts is that the message is lost on normies.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
6 June 2025
Noun
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From anarchists to orders Antonio Gramsci, the early 20th-century Italian Marxist theorist, expanded the concept of hegemony beyond international relations into a class analysis.—
Andrew Latham,
The Conversation,
30 May 2025
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Greenwich Village was thick with activists, artists, and anarchists; Harlem was having its Renaissance.—
Alexandra Schwartz,
New Yorker,
5 May 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Subversive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subversive. Accessed 12 Jun. 2025.
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