Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

dissident

American  
[dis-i-duhnt] / ˈdɪs ɪ dənt /

noun

  1. a person who dissents.

adjective

  1. disagreeing or dissenting, as in opinion or attitude.

    a ban on dissident magazines.
dissident British  
/ ˈdɪsɪdənt /

adjective

  1. disagreeing; dissenting

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

  1. a person who disagrees, esp one who disagrees with the government

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • antidissident noun
  • dissidence noun
  • dissidently adverb
  • nondissident adjective

Etymology

Origin of dissident

1525–35; < Latin dissident- (stem of dissidēns, present participle of dissidēre to sit apart), equivalent to dis- dis- 1 + -sid- (combining form of sed- repair 1 ) + -ent- -ent

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.

The term "dissident republicans" describes a range of individuals who do not accept the Good Friday Agreement - the 1998 peace deal which ended the worst of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

From BBC • Apr. 1, 2026

My own family fled after the 2021 military coup when my mother was put on a wanted list for being a prominent dissident.

From Slate • Mar. 19, 2026

A family dispute has also caught attention: his sister Badri fell out with her family in the 1980s and fled to Iraq in the war to join her husband, a dissident cleric.

From Barron's • Feb. 28, 2026

Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was almost certainly killed by a poison derived from a rare frog toxin in an Arctic prison colony two years ago, several European governments said Saturday.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 14, 2026

A few days ago, Mr. Washburn was issued revised orders to vacate the compound and have no further dealings with any dissident elements.

From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez

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.