rebellion

American  

[ri-bel-yuhn] / rɪˈbɛl yən /

noun

1. open, organized, and armed resistance to one's government or ruler.

   Synonyms:

   sedition, mutiny

2. resistance to or defiance of any authority, control, or tradition.

   Synonyms:

   disobedience, insubordination

3. the act of rebelling.

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rebellion British  

/ rɪˈbɛljən /

noun

1. organized resistance or opposition to a government or other authority

2. dissent from an accepted moral code or convention of behaviour, dress, etc

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Usage

What does rebellion mean? A rebellion is an attempt to overthrow a government—an organized revolution. It can also refer to a revolt against another form of authority. More generally, rebellion can refer to an action or behavior that resists or defies rules or norms or otherwise challenges the status quo. The verb rebel means to engage in rebellion. As a noun, rebel can refer to a revolutionary or to a person who is defiant or disobedient. Such a defiant person can be called rebellious, and the noun rebelliousness refers to such behavior. Rebellion can also refer to this, as in I went through a phase of teenage rebellion. Example: The rebellion is being led by a coalition of factions that all have the same goal—to topple the regime.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• semirebellion
  noun
• nonrebellion
  noun
• subrebellion
  noun
• prerebellion
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of rebellion

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English rebellioun, from Old French, from Latin rebelliōn-, stem of rebelliō; equivalent to rebel + -ion

Explanation

A rebellion is when you rise up and fight those in power, usually on a large scale. In "Star Wars," the good guys fighting the powerful, evil empire were known as the rebellion. If you know that a rebel is someone who fights authority, then you won’t be surprised that a rebellion is something similar. Rebellions can be wars, particularly wars for independence from the ruling government, but many rebellions never come to armed conflict. Most of the time they're wars of words, or even just small-scale rule-breaking that is supposed to make a larger point. Students might wear shorts to school, for example, as a rebellion against the dress code.

Example Sentences

Ward, a former Rebellion pilot turned New Republic leader, and Jeremy Allen White as grown-up Rotta the Hutt, Jabba’s son, who debuted as an infant in the animated “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.”

From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2026

The Whiskey Rebellion in 1794 and Henry David Thoreau’s 1846 tax protest exemplify American resistance to taxation.

From Barron's • Apr. 14, 2026

This matters because if the book was too technical or relied on assumptions that the reader already had extensive knowledge of jazz, New York City, or the 1967 Detroit Rebellion, they would likely stop reading.

From Salon • Apr. 14, 2026

Later that year, in October, an Extinction Rebellion activist was ordered to pay more than £1,500 for defacing the statue by painting "racist" on its plinth during a climate protest.

From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026

The talk around the table was about our villages and events in the Middle Kingdom, especially now that the Boxer Rebellion was over for good.

From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep

Related Words

• dissent
• insurgency
• insurrection
• revolution
• uprising