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:
Defending a capital or helping loyalist forces defeat a mutiny requires fewer resources than recapturing and securing vast areas affected by an insurgency.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
Ochieng said the mutiny "demonstrates deep divisions and grievances within the security apparatus", in a country whose soldiers are "constantly in the line of fire, fighting militants".
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
The airbase where the mutiny began had itself been targeted twice by jihadists this year – once by an Islamic State affiliate and later by an al-Qaeda affiliate.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
Was this a simple mutiny or an attempted coup?
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
Who knew what brand of mutiny his captives might cook up if they shared a common tongue.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
Puckish and determined, Hockney didn’t shrink from mutinies small or large.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
The latest controversy adds to a list which includes sinkings, crashes, mutinies, and the controversial 1877 dead heat, when the result was decided in court.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2025
China has taken some limited steps recently to prevent strikes, mutinies and violence on its fishing ships.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2023
On July 23, he took the Belarusian president, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, to Kronstadt, a city on an island outside St. Petersburg known for its early-20th-century history of mutinies.
From New York Times ● Aug. 5, 2023
Following the defeat at the Chemin des Dames, French soldiers engaged in what historians have called “the mutinies of 1917.”
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
Peng began as a commander in the China-backed Burmese Communist Party, but he mutinied in 1989 as Chinese support stopped, breaking the Burmese Communist Party up into several armed insurgent groups.
From BBC ● Nov. 22, 2023
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
Indeed, in 1946 Indians in the British Navy had mutinied throughout the country.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
At the end of October, German naval crews mutinied, and within a week, revolutionary outbreaks had spread to every big German city.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
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.
