rebellion
Americannoun
-
rebellions
plural
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open, organized, and armed resistance to one's government or ruler.
-
resistance to or defiance of any authority, control, or tradition.
- Synonyms:
- disobedience, insubordination
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the act of rebelling.
noun
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organized resistance or opposition to a government or other authority
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dissent from an accepted moral code or convention of behaviour, dress, etc
Usage
What does rebellion mean? A rebellion is an attempt to overthrow a government—an organized revolution. It can also refer to a revolt against another form of authority. More generally, rebellion can refer to an action or behavior that resists or defies rules or norms or otherwise challenges the status quo. The verb rebel means to engage in rebellion. As a noun, rebel can refer to a revolutionary or to a person who is defiant or disobedient. Such a defiant person can be called rebellious, and the noun rebelliousness refers to such behavior. Rebellion can also refer to this, as in I went through a phase of teenage rebellion. Example: The rebellion is being led by a coalition of factions that all have the same goal—to topple the regime.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of rebellion
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English rebellioun, from Old French, from Latin rebelliōn-, stem of rebelliō; equivalent to rebel + -ion
Explanation
A rebellion is when you rise up and fight those in power, usually on a large scale. In "Star Wars," the good guys fighting the powerful, evil empire were known as the rebellion. If you know that a rebel is someone who fights authority, then you won’t be surprised that a rebellion is something similar. Rebellions can be wars, particularly wars for independence from the ruling government, but many rebellions never come to armed conflict. Most of the time they're wars of words, or even just small-scale rule-breaking that is supposed to make a larger point. Students might wear shorts to school, for example, as a rebellion against the dress code.
Vocabulary lists containing rebellion
Animal Farm
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May the 4th Be With You: Star Wars Words
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List 5
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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:
It “broke the idea that the British couldn’t be beaten,” we are told, and “helped the colonists believe in the rebellion again.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
You’re talking about the rebellion of teenage girls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Fashion has a long history of turning provocation, rebellion and even criticism of the industry itself into something desirable — and expensive.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
Opposition from just those two confederations is unlikely to be enough to unseat him, and so efforts are currently being made behind the scenes to convince countries elsewhere to join the rebellion.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
But with all the power coming from the capital, the mines could be lit up by Mobutu’s own hand, and shut down at the first sign of popular rebellion.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
The federal government was given the responsibility for putting down rebellions, which in practice meant crushing slave uprisings and resistance.
From Salon ● May 14, 2026
Weapons from the former Yugoslavia helped drive the Libyan civil wars after 2011, later fueling rebellions in Mali and across the Sahel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
The longer struggle against slavery in the Western Hemisphere involved centuries of resistance through rebellions, wars, sabotage, and self-emancipation by enslaved people themselves, a story that extends far beyond the U.S.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2026
Suriname, on the north coast of South America, has been plagued by rebellions and coups since independence in 1975.
From Barron's ● Dec. 2, 2025
He, Ron, and Hermione kept to themselves, working late into the night, trying to remember the ingredients in complicated potions, learn charms and spells by heart, memorize the dates of magical discoveries and goblin rebellions.
From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling
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.
