mutiny
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
mutinysimple
-
mutiniessimple
-
have mutiniedperfect
-
has mutiniedperfect
-
am mutinyingprogressive
-
are mutinyingprogressive
-
is mutinyingprogressive
-
have been mutinyingperfect progressive
-
has been mutinyingperfect progressive
Past
-
mutiniedsimple
-
had mutiniedperfect
-
was mutinyingprogressive
-
were mutinyingprogressive
-
had been mutinyingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mutiny
1560–70; obsolete mutine to mutiny (< Middle French mutiner, derivative of mutin mutiny; see mutineer) + -y 3
Explanation
A mutiny is a rebellion against authority, like when sailors overthrow the captain of a ship or when a class of 8th graders refuses to dissect a frog in biology class. Mutiny comes from an old verb, mutine, which means "revolt," and a mutiny is still like a revolt. It can be a group of people, like in the famous Mutiny on the Bounty in 1789 when the crew of a British Royal Navy ship kicked the captain out so they could stay in Tahiti. (Totally worth it.) Mutiny also means "to refuse the order of the person in authority," so it doesn't always take place at sea or in the military, it can happen in a classroom and be every teacher's nightmare!
Vocabulary lists containing mutiny
The Cay
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Christopher Columbus' Diary: The First Voyage
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Refugee
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Cash in circulation jumped after President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilisation in September 2022 and during a brief mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group in June 2023.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Seeing Samary revealed as the coup spokesman, Tévoédjrè was dismayed to realize he had sent a mutineer to stop a mutiny.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
And amid the Ukraine war he was despatched to negotiate with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin during his attempted mutiny against Russian military top brass in 2023.
From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026
But in the case of Alekseyev, whose links to Wagner made him a suspect in probes following Prigozhin’s failed mutiny, some analysts said Friday’s attack could have been a case of delayed retribution.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
“Does Calliope say there’ll be a mutiny? Does she say the bird will prevail?”
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
Puckish and determined, Hockney didn’t shrink from mutinies small or large.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Among the American troops, there were mutinies and desertions and soldiers simply going home when their enlistment was up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2025
The latest controversy adds to a list which includes sinkings, crashes, mutinies, and the controversial 1877 dead heat, when the result was decided in court.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2025
Rights groups also warn that civilians usually bear the brunt of these mutinies.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 28, 2023
Following the defeat at the Chemin des Dames, French soldiers engaged in what historians have called “the mutinies of 1917.”
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
Peng began as a commander in the China-backed Burmese Communist Party, but he mutinied in 1989 as Chinese support stopped, breaking the Burmese Communist Party up into several armed insurgent groups.
From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2023
There was further controversy last year when members of the Spanish women's team mutinied against their coach Jorge Vilda.
From Reuters ● Aug. 31, 2023
A few years after the showdown at Worms, unpaid troops in the Habsburg Emperor’s army mutinied, then sacked Rome and the Vatican.
From Slate ● Apr. 21, 2023
After his own soldiers mutinied, however, Alexander withdrew to Babylon, where he died in 323 BCE.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
At the end of October, German naval crews mutinied, and within a week, revolutionary outbreaks had spread to every big German city.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
On 7 December, mutinying soldiers claimed to have overthrown the Benin president.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026
In parts of his interview reported by Reuters earlier this week, he said the mutinying Russian mercenaries had headed for a nuclear base in pursuit of a backpack-sized atomic weapon.
From Reuters ● Jul. 14, 2023
By the end of his reign, Roman armies in Gaul and Hispania were mutinying.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
But because I apparently can't make it every single night without my family mutinying, I decided to take its elements and put them into a bite I can have every night.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2022
They were always showing Columbus discovering America, having one helluva time getting old Ferdinand and Isabella to lend him the dough to buy ships with, and then the sailors mutinying on him and all.
From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
