rebel
Americannoun
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rebels
plural
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a person who refuses allegiance to, resists, or rises in arms against the government or ruler of their country.
- Synonyms:
- insurgent, traitor, mutineer, insurrectionist
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a person who resists any authority, control, or tradition.
verb (used without object)
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rebels,
present (3rd person singular)
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rebelled,
past participle, past
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rebel,
past participle, past
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rebelling
present participle
verb
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to resist or rise up against a government or other authority, esp by force of arms
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to dissent from an accepted moral code or convention of behaviour, dress, etc
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to show repugnance (towards)
noun
-
-
a person who rebels
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( as modifier )
a rebel soldier
a rebel leader
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-
a person who dissents from some accepted moral code or convention of behaviour, dress, etc
Usage
What does rebel mean? A rebel is a person who resists or defies rules or norms or rises up against the powers that be. In its more serious sense, a rebel is a revolutionary trying to overthrow a government. More generally, it means someone who breaks the rules, resists authority, or otherwise challenges the status quo by doing things in a nontraditional way, such as in fashion and other arts. As a noun, rebel is pronounced "REB-uhl."Rebel is also a verb meaning to resist or rise up against authority or tradition. As a verb, rebel is pronounced "ri-BELL."Example: Danielle refused to wear her uniform to school, fighting with the principle and urging the other girls to rebel against the policy as she did.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
rebelsimple
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rebelssimple
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have rebelperfect
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have rebelledperfect
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has rebelperfect
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has rebelledperfect
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am rebellingprogressive
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are rebellingprogressive
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is rebellingprogressive
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have been rebellingperfect progressive
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has been rebellingperfect progressive
Past
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rebelsimple
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rebelledsimple
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had rebelperfect
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had rebelledperfect
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was rebellingprogressive
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were rebellingprogressive
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had been rebellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of rebel
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English adjective rebel(e), from Old French rebelle, from Latin rebellis “renewing a war,” equivalent to re- re- + bell(um) “war” + -is adjective suffix; Middle English verb rebelle(n), from Old French rebeller and Latin rebellāre; noun derivative of the adjective
Explanation
When you rebel against your parents by dyeing your hair green and staying out without calling, you are acting in a way that questions both their authority and their rules about what is right and acceptable. A rebel is someone who fights authority. The story of a rebel often finds its way into books and movies. In the 1950s film "Rebel without a Cause," a teenager rebels against his parents. In the "Star Wars" movies, the Jedi rebel against the Empire. A rebel, whether the cause they are fighting for is just or not, is always the underdog. One pronunciation hint, rebel as a noun has the stress on the first syllable and as a verb on the second.
Vocabulary lists containing rebel
"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act I
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Fighting Words: Belli and Milit
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The American Revolution - Introductory
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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:
The headquarters of Tigrai TV, seen as the key outlet for the rebel authorities in the Tigrayan capital, Mekelle, was hit by a drone on Sunday.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
In the days before Tice vanished, the driver made one particularly brazen move while Tice was interviewing rebel fighters.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
Here’s hoping it inspires a new generation of rebel filmmakers to take the wheel.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
“If we reach our goal to go to Oktoberfest, it’s not the rebel brand anymore,” Marx said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
Both sides, it seems, now ready themselves for the ultimatum to be touched off by new shew of rebel impertinence, and for the desolation to commence.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
In 2022, after years of stalemate, the government and rebels signed on to a ceasefire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
Investigators are looking into the possibility he began to radicalize in the war-torn country where Islamist rebels fought against the ruling Assad regime, the people said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
On the frontlines in northern Ethiopia, there were signs that the Tigrayan rebels were being pushed back.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
Activists say that because the war with the Tamil rebels was ongoing, the then government didn't pursue the investigation and did not explain why.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
We left in silence, as near as we could, to ensure that the rebels would not know of their victory until we had gained Norfolk again.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Baby boomers, the generation that rebelled against their parents, are moving into the same retirement communities as their octogenarian-plus moms and dads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
Unlike the majority of his generational cohort, he never rebelled against the establishment that promoted it.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
One of the main reasons colonists rebelled against the crown was that they wanted more Indigenous land—they wanted to move farther west into North America, but the king was telling them no.
From Slate ● Jul. 3, 2026
Paraguay’s national anthem starts by stating that the people of the Americas were “oppressed for three centuries” until they rebelled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
The moment a situation became so that it exacted something of him, he rebelled.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
And the red at-home nail lacquer, released by Revlon in the early 1930s, was a badge of honour for modern women rebelling against that kind of oppressive judgement.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
Prosecutors say Mr. Mangione wrote in a notebook that he was rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Speakers promoting AI are getting booed at universities, voters are rebelling against data centers, and even AI-friendly Trump administration officials are starting to retreat as an artificial intelligence backlash gathers pace across the United States.
From Barron's ● May 19, 2026
When it came to creating this new government, rebelling against and pushing back against restrictions we had experienced under English common law, press freedom was seen to be essential.
From Slate ● Feb. 24, 2026
“It hasn’t come back into style. Punk has come into style, so I think this is your son’s way of rebelling all over again,” Mom said with a smirk.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
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.
