rebel — OAT · Shobdo

rebel

noun

(stress on the first syllable)

1 the rebels took control of the capital:

revolutionary, insurgent, revolutionist, mutineer, agitator, subversive, guerrilla, anarchist, terrorist;

freedom fighter, resistance fighter;

traitor, renegade;

in Mexico, , historical Zapatista;

in South America, , historical Montonero;

rare insurrectionist, insurrectionary.

2 the modernist concept of the artist as a rebel, challenging society's norms:

nonconformist, dissenter, dissident, iconoclast, maverick, disruptor;

heretic, recusant, apostate, schismatic;

informal bad boy.

verb

(stress on the second syllable)

1 the citizens of the town rebelled:

revolt, mutiny, riot, rise up, rise up in arms, take up arms, stage/mount a rebellion, take to the streets, defy the authorities, refuse to obey orders, be insubordinate.

2 his stomach rebelled at the mere thought of food:

recoil, show/feel repugnance;

shrink (from), flinch (from), shy away (from), pull back (from).

3 most teenagers go through a stage of rebelling against their parents:

defy, disobey, refuse to obey, flout, kick against, challenge, oppose, resist, be at odds with, refuse to accept the authority of, repudiate;

dissent;

fly in the face of, kick over the traces.

▷antonyms obey, conform.

adjective

(stress on the first syllable)

1 the rebel officers who led the abortive coup:

insurgent, revolutionary, mutinous, rebellious, mutinying;

traitorous, renegade;

rare insurrectionary, insurrectionist.

2 rebel politicians | rebel clergymen:

rebellious, defiant, disobedient, insubordinate, subversive, disaffected, malcontent, resistant, dissentient, recalcitrant, unmanageable, ungovernable;

nonconformist, maverick, iconoclastic;

heretical, recusant, apostate, schismatic;

archaic contumacious.

▷antonyms obedient, compliant.