as in rebels
someone who tries to overthrow or undermine a governing power
They were outted as subversives and exiled from the country.
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Recent Examples of subversives
Loners lashing out America has had genuine subversives and left-wing terror networks in the past.
—
Michelle Goldberg, Mercury News, 27 Sep. 2025
Michelle Goldberg, Mercury News, 27 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for subversives
Noun
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Ai, a Chinese Vietnamese American filmmaker and writer, focuses on rebels and outsiders of mainstream culture.—
Chris Gardner,
HollywoodReporter,
20 Mar. 2026
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As tension erupts between Jewish settlers and Palestinian rebels, the British police and Army enforce an indiscriminate crackdown on Arab villagers, confiscating their land, enforcing curfews, limiting travel, and beating and arresting any who resist.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
20 Mar. 2026
Noun
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To Alfredo De Avila, of the Oakland Center for Third World Organizing, the UFW’s claims that Communist insurgents are plotting against Chavez and his union highlight how far the UFW has fallen.—
Marcos Breton,
Sacbee.com,
24 Mar. 2026
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Bakri is more brittle in Farah Nabulsi’s The Teacher as Basem, a Palestinian teacher in the West Bank whose support for insurgents grows after his own son dies in prison and as Israeli settlers brutalize his neighborhood.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
24 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The organizers were arrested and denounced by authorities as counter-revolutionaries.—
Azadeh Moaveni,
New Yorker,
22 Mar. 2026
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Silvia Hernandez is an Orlando resident and the granddaughter of Cuban revolutionaries buried in Miami.—
Silvia Hernandez,
The Orlando Sentinel,
22 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Investigators are not ruling out sabotage carried out by anarchists, citing similarities to the sabotage that targeted the French network during the 2024 Paris Olympics, when France’s high-speed train lines were targeted by multiple malicious acts including arson.—
Antonia Mortensen,
CNN Money,
7 Feb. 2026
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The loudest calls for taxing the ultra-rich amid this year’s Davos summit aren’t coming from hooded anarchists or revolutionary socialists, but from the one-percenters themselves.—
Joe Wilkins Published Jan 22,
Futurism,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Having been labeled traitors in Iran and following reports that some of their families had been threatened, the players then sang before their other two matches.—
Don Riddell,
CNN Money,
17 Mar. 2026
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McCarthy’s rampage was about rooting out traitors.—
Ali Breland,
The Atlantic,
6 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Subversives.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subversives. Accessed 30 Mar. 2026.
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