mutiny
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
mutinysimple
-
mutiniessimple
-
have mutiniedperfect
-
has mutiniedperfect
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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
During the Bounty’s infamous mutiny, Tahitian breadfruit saplings filled its hold.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 3, 2026
He was also sent to negotiate with the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a short and bloody mutiny in June 2023.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026
And amid the Ukraine war he was despatched to negotiate with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin during his attempted mutiny against Russian military top brass in 2023.
From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026
If anyone proposes another match race between these two super horses,” wrote a reporter after the race, “henceforth, he will be tried in the morning for treason, mutiny, mopery and non compos mentis.'''’
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
Puckish and determined, Hockney didn’t shrink from mutinies small or large.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
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
Rights groups also warn that civilians usually bear the brunt of these mutinies.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 28, 2023
Is what happened like the mutinies that happened on ships long ago?
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
He briefly mutinied, demanding back-pay for his soldiers, promotions and a political position for his brother.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 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
When Émile Janssens, the White commander of the Force Publique, the Belgian Congo’s security force, made clear to Black troops a few days after independence that White officers would remain in charge, soldiers mutinied.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
But when he tried to get up, his body mutinied against movement.
From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier
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
But because I apparently can't make it every single night without my family mutinying, I decided to take its elements and put them into a bite I can have every night.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2022
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
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.
