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rebel Definition

rebel (reb′əl; for v. ri bel′)

noun

  1. one who engages in armed resistance against the established government of one's country
  2. a person who resists any authority or controls
  3. ☆ a Confederate soldier in the Civil War: term used chiefly by Northerners

Etymology: ME < OFr rebelle < L rebellis, rebel, rebellious < rebellare: see rebelthe

adjective

  1. rebellious
  2. of rebels

intransitive verb re·bel′, -·belled′, -·bel′·ling

  1. to be a rebel against the established government of one's country
  2. to resist any authority or controls to rebel against one's parents
  3. to feel or show strong aversion; be repelled his mind rebels at the thought

Etymology: ME rebellen < OFr rebeller < L rebellare < re-, again + bellare, to wage war < bellum, war: see duel

rebel Synonyms

rebel

n.

  1. A person engaged in a political revolution

    insurrectionist, revolutionary, revolutionist, agitator, insurgent, insurrectionary, traitor, seditionist, mutineer, subversive, subverter, anarchist, overthrower, nihilist, guerrilla, freedom fighter, member of the uprising, rioter, demagogue, revolter, separatist, malcontent, dissident, schismatic, deserter, dissenter, seceder, apostate, sectarian, turncoat, counterrevolutionary, renegade, secessionist, Sinn Feiner, Trotskyite, underground worker, Third Worlder, refusenik; see also radical.

  2. A person of independent opinions

    independent, individualist, iconoclast, nonconformist, maverick, innovator, experimenter, experientialist, malcontent.

rebel Synonyms

rebel

v.

  1. To resist or endeavor to overthrow a government or other authority

    rise up, rise, resist, revolt, turn against, defy, resist authority, resist lawful authority, fight in the streets, strike, boycott, break with, overturn, mutiny, riot, take up arms against, start an uprising, start a confrontation, secede, renounce, combat, oppose, be insubordinate, be treasonable, upset, overthrow, dethrone, disobey, raise hell*, kick up a row*, run amok*.

    Antonyms submit, obey*, be contented.

  2. To object

    dispute, resist, shrink from, be repelled; see oppose 1, recoil.

rebel Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • defeat: To this position the defeated rebels crept, intent on expunging their defeat in the blood of the wounded Highlanders.
  • crush: The plan was a harsh refinement of a campaign last summer by Interior Ministry forces that failed to crush Albanian rebels.

Preposition: against

  • tyranny: The public are rebelling against the tyranny of cool to enjoy the fine art of dressing up.

Converse of subject

    Adjective modifier

    • Maoist: India fears that rapid progress to a republic could allow the powerful Maoist rebels to fill the vacuum.
    • Kurdish: Many suspect Turkey wants to crack down on its own Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq.
    • Albanian: The plan was a harsh refinement of a campaign last summer by Interior Ministry forces that failed to crush Albanian rebels.
    • Afghan: The Afghan rebels received about $ 3 billion from the CIA.
    • armed: But some found new freedom when they joined the country's armed rebels, and they are now helping maintain law and order.

    Modifies a noun

    • stronghold: Bristol Castle A rebel stronghold in the 12th-century civil war.
    • Renamo: The ruling Frelimo Party had monitors at all eight, and the main opposition force, the former rebel movement Renamo, in six.
    • faction: The other is that some pockets here are controlled by Sudanese rebel faction, the Sudan People's Liberation Army ( SPLA ).
    • baron: The rebel barons support the son of the king of France, Prince Louis in preference to King John.
    • army: The rebel army of 150 men were trained by Rip Robertson.
    • militia: However, the service has been totally disrupted by rebel militia and invasion by miners.

    Noun used with modifier

    • Renamo: No sugar had been produced there since 1986, when Renamo rebels destroyed the mill.
    • backbench: Labor's backbench rebels are acting against the interests of the poor.
    • separatist: The women have been held since September 10 in the southern province of Aceh, for allegedly carrying documents linking them to separatist rebels.
    • Hutu: In 1999 the center was destroyed by Rwandan Hutu rebels who killed 8 westerners.
rebel Quotes

Flertallet har aldrig retten pafi   sin side. Aldrig, siger jeg! Det er en af disse samfundslÖgnere, som en fri, t½nkende mand mafi   gÖre oprÖr imod. Hvem er det, som udgÖr flertallet af beboerne i et land? Er det de kloge folk, eller er det de'   dumme? Jeg t½nker, vi fafi  r vaere enige om, at dumme mennesker er tilstede i en ganske forskr½kkelig overv½ldende majoritet rundt omkring pafi   den hele vide jord. The majority never has right on its side.Never,I say! That is one of the social lies that a free, thinking man is bound to rebel against.Who makes up the majority in any given country? Is it the wise men or the fools? I think we must agree that the fools are in a terrible overwhelming majority, all the wide world over.

—Ibsen, HenrikJohan

Every genuine boy is a rebel and an anarch.

—Miller, Henry Valentine

No one can go on being a rebel too long without turning into an autocrat.

—Durrell, Lawrence George

Qu'est-ce qu'un homme re¤  volte¤  ? Un homme qui dit non. What is a rebel? A man who says no.

—Camus, Albert

Browse dictionary entries near rebel

  1. ‹ Rebecca
  2. ‹ rebec
  3. ‹ rebbetzin
  4. ‹ rebbe
  5. ‹ rebato
  6. ‹ rebate
  7. ‹ rebarbative
  8. ‹ rebaptize
  9. ‹ rebalancing
  10. ‹ reb
  1. rebeldom ›
  2. rebellion ›
  3. rebellious ›
  4. rebirth ›
  5. reboant ›
  6. reboot ›
  7. reborn ›
  8. rebound ›
  9. rebozo ›
  10. rebroadcast ›