insubordinate

American  

[in-suh-bawr-dn-it] / ˌɪn səˈbɔr dn ɪt /

adjective

1. not submitting to authority; disobedient.

   an insubordinate soldier.

   Synonyms:

   insolent, defiant, refractory

2. not lower.

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noun

1. a person who is insubordinate.

insubordinate British  

/ ˌɪnsəˈbɔːdɪnɪt /

adjective

1. not submissive to authority; disobedient or rebellious

2. not in a subordinate position or rank

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noun

1. an insubordinate person

Other Word Forms

• insubordinately
  adverb
• insubordination
  noun

Etymology

Origin of insubordinate

First recorded in 1840–50; in- ³ + subordinate

Explanation

If you want to be insubordinate, go ahead and break the rules, ignore orders, and act like a disobedient rebel. Words that have similar meanings to insubordinate include "rebellious" and "mutinous." But while insubordinate people don't follow orders, rebellious folks openly defy them and mutinous groups try to overthrow the authority that created them. When baseball player Jackie Robinson objected to racial discrimination in the Army in the 1940s, he was accused of being insubordinate. He was court martialed, but found innocent and acquitted.

Example Sentences

Insubordinate and often insufferable, he is assigned to recover a kidnaped British scientist held by criminals who contribute to the nation's "brain drain" by snatching and selling top scientific talent to foreign powers.

From Time Magazine Archive

Insubordinate, in-sub-or′din-āt, adj. not subordinate or submissive: disobedient.—n.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

"Insubordinate children who play off from school in the morning must work in the afternoon," Karl said at luncheon, and they went to their work that afternoon with freshened spirit.

From The Glory of the Conquered The Story of a Great Love by Glaspell, Susan

Insubordinate Spaniards have been punished; “on New Year's day, I had the entire city council arrested for an act of disobedience to me.”

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 — Volume 10 of 55 1597-1599 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century by Robertson, James Alexander

He shook his head mischievously and whispered "Insubordinate."

From Miss Lou by Roe, Edward Payson