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:
"It has various meanings of freedom and rebellion," a spokesman emphasised.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026
The U.S. was born through rebellion and has lived through plenty of its own turmoil.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
The move comes barely a week after Rwanda's defence ministry was hit with sanctions by US Treasury for its alleged role in the armed rebellion in eastern DR Congo.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
On the other, she was also the voice of rebellion for the repressed members of her enormous fan base.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
Territorial empires are tightly controlled but costly to maintain; hegemonic empires are inexpensive to maintain, because the original local rulers incur the costs of administration, but the loose tie between master and vassal encourages rebellion.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Before, the two forces had been allies, working together to crush rebellions in Darfur, but also pro-democracy movements that sprung up after the ouster of Sudanese dictator Omar Al-Bashir in 2019.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
The federal government was given the responsibility for putting down rebellions, which in practice meant crushing slave uprisings and resistance.
From Salon ● May 14, 2026
Kurdish rebellions in the early years of the Islamic Republic were largely defeated, forcing Kurdish leaders into exile in neighboring Iraq.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026
Suriname, on the north coast of the South American continent, has been plagued by rebellions and coups since independence in 1975.
From Barron's ● Dec. 1, 2025
Meanwhile Professor Binns, the ghost who taught History of Magic, had them writing weekly essays on the goblin rebellions of the eighteenth century.
From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling
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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.
