insubordinate
Americanadjective
-
not submitting to authority; disobedient.
an insubordinate soldier.
- Synonyms:
- insolent, defiant, refractory
-
not lower.
noun
adjective
-
not submissive to authority; disobedient or rebellious
-
not in a subordinate position or rank
noun
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.
Vocabulary lists containing insubordinate
Vocabulary from Golden Globe Winners
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Treasure Island
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Piecing Me Together
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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.
And do it in a way that makes it sound as if he’s reckless and insubordinate and doesn’t care about the law?
From Slate • Jan. 3, 2026
Roosevelt served for a year as an occasionally insubordinate assistant secretary of the Navy, then resigned at the start of the Spanish-American War to co-found the First U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 29, 2025
An unhappy employee is more likely to engage in contrarian or insubordinate behavior and will generally create a nuisance.
From MarketWatch • Oct. 28, 2025
Because of the SSA’s stultifying culture, Dudek said, he leaned into his insubordinate streak.
From Salon • Sep. 9, 2025
Three years ago I’d been one of the insubordinate kids first entering the gates of Valley Forge.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
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.
