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
-
( 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
-
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:
I like the idea of a rebel as L.A. mayor, but the job is hard enough with City Council allies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
“If something is not in Iraq’s interest, we don’t want them,” said Rahman Hussein Ahmed, a 51-year-old former fighter in a rebel group that opposed both Iran and the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026
On 11 August 2012, Tice celebrated his 31st birthday at a rebel safehouse on the western edge of Damascus, a few miles from Assad's presidential palace.
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
Inside Syria, there are rebel groups and pro-government soldiers and regional forces.
From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell
At the same time escalating tensions in the Middle East, with ongoing strikes between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia, have pushed oil prices higher.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
An international airport in the Saudi capital has been attacked again, reports say, just days after Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed two successful attacks on the hub.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of backing rebels in its northern Tigray state, and the two countries severed diplomatic ties last week.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
In 2022, after years of stalemate, the government and rebels signed on to a ceasefire.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
While some of the prisoners were people accused of attempting to practice magic—not that they could, given that magic had vanished from the kingdom—these days, more and more rebels arrived at Endovier.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
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
He rebelled, at great risk to himself, deciding to become a filmmaking whistleblower.
From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2026
The solemnity of an act which tirsula had considered the most simple one of daily life created a tense atmosphere against which the silent José Arcadio Segundo rebelled before anyone else.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A system designed to stop machines from rebelling will differ from one designed to hold laboratories responsible for testing practices, network architecture, safeguards, monitoring and intervention.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Still, it’s promising sign that people are rebelling against Flock cameras.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 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
“I’m not rebelling, Mom,” I said, even though maybe I was doing that too.
From "The First Rule of Punk" by Celia C. Pérez
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
