rebellion
Americannoun
-
rebellions
plural
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open, organized, and armed resistance to one's government or ruler.
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resistance to or defiance of any authority, control, or tradition.
- Synonyms:
- disobedience, insubordination
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the act of rebelling.
noun
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organized resistance or opposition to a government or other authority
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dissent from an accepted moral code or convention of behaviour, dress, etc
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
Vocabulary lists containing rebellion
Animal Farm
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May the 4th Be With You: Star Wars Words
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List 5
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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:
Ditching the hair was an act of rebellion, much like growing it out had been in the first place, against the advice of his dad.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
That stylistic rebellion extended to Arnold as well.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Curated by former Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful, it brings together more than 100 works by nearly 70 artists, photographers and designers to examine a decade of creativity and rebellion.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
They were J.Crew socks: tiny lobsters, reindeer, tasteful little acts of rebellion occurring mostly below the trouser cuff.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
To put down the Confederate rebellion, the president required votes in Congress from men who would back the needs of the military.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
In rebellions that occurred in New York, Richmond and Charleston between 1712 and 1822, “African spiritualist presences” influenced participants who believed themselves to possess supernatural protection from harm.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 26, 2026
Likewise, the end of slavery was not solely brought about by the Civil War in the U.S., but also by centuries of resistance through rebellions, wars, sabotage and self-emancipation, across the entire Americas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2026
After no rebellions took place, the judicial system put on the brakes, the public turned against Palmer and the scare went dormant.
From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2025
By one measure External link, these local rebellions have sunk or delayed tens of billions of dollars worth of potential data center projects.
From Barron's ● Oct. 18, 2025
Though there have been many successful colonial rebellions against imperial domination since the American Revolution, none had occurred before.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
