mutiny
Americannoun
-
mutinies
plural
verb (used without object)
-
mutinies,
present (3rd person singular)
-
mutinied,
past participle, past
-
mutinying
present participle
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
Alekseyev, who had longtime links with Wagner, was detained after the mutiny and later released.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
Which, as a viewer anticipates, leads to a mutiny.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
Regional power Nigeria assisted in thwarting the mutiny, saying its fighter jets had helped "dislodge the coup plotters from the National TV and a military camp" following a request from Benin's government.
From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2025
Giggling was a form of mutiny to the nun and she quelled it with a wintery narrowing of her eyes.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
A cycle of ephemeral emperors, military mutinies and civil wars had begun, marring Rome’s third century.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026
Alliance shifts and mutinies occur, but leadership is hard to fake and Pipe is a born boss.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2023
Rights groups also warn that civilians usually bear the brunt of these mutinies.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 28, 2023
In fact, she began many economic policies that flourished under Mr. Ramos, and he successfully defended Ms. Aquino’s fragile democratic government against repeated military mutinies.
From New York Times ● Jul. 31, 2022
They weren’t mutinies in the sense that soldiers attacked their officers, but were more like workmen’s strikes, in which entire units refused to return to the trenches or take part in new attacks.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
He briefly mutinied, demanding back-pay for his soldiers, promotions and a political position for his brother.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2025
Around 3 p.m., she and the two other employees working that day mutinied.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 11, 2025
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
Rinaldi said that the French had mutinied and troops marched on Paris.
From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
On 7 December, mutinying soldiers claimed to have overthrown the Benin president.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026
By the end of his reign, Roman armies in Gaul and Hispania were mutinying.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
It’s the captain’s job to ensure their ship is stocked with food, water, and ammo lest they run the risk of their crew mutinying from a lack of provisions.
From The Verge ● Apr. 29, 2022
In other words, in waging endless war, Americans are also, in effect, mutinying against the planet.
From Salon ● Dec. 7, 2019
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.
