Dissident
adj, noun ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A person who formally opposes the current political structure, the political group in power, the policies of the political group in power, or current laws.
"I once more find myself a dissident, and a dissident in a very small minority."
- 2 a person who dissents from some established policy wordnet
- 3 One who disagrees or dissents; one who separates from the established religion.
- 4 One who disagrees or dissents; one who separates from the established religion.; Sometimes Dissident: in the kingdom of Poland, the name for Christians not part of the Roman Catholic Church. historical, specifically
"From Warſaw, May 25. That the Dyet of Convocation had held its laſt Seſſion on the 22d, and then agreed to and ſign'd a general Confederacy in good Order, having firſt Sworn not to Elect a Foreigner as above. The Day of Election was fixt for the 25th of Aug. But a Proteſt was enter'd by the Diſſidents, who had been excluded."
- 1 In a manner that disagrees; dissenting; discordant.
"Near-synonym: dissonant"
- 2 Continuing violent actions despite a ceasefire (especially the Good Friday Agreement). Northern-Ireland
"This tragic event, coupled with a police operation on the Drumcree site July 15-17, 1998 - which revealed a small cache of explosives and arms and resulted in arrests of dissident loyalists effectively ended the standoff."
- 1 disagreeing, especially with a majority wordnet
- 2 characterized by departure from accepted beliefs or standards wordnet
Example
More examples"In the 21st century virtually every American considers themselves a dissident, even those who defend tradition and powerful institutions."
Etymology
From Latin dissidēns, present participle of dissideō (“to sit apart; to disagree”), from dis- (“asunder, apart, in two”) + sedeō (“to sit”).
Related phrases
More for "dissident"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.