Rebellion

//ɹɪˈbɛl.i.ən// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Armed resistance to an established government or ruler. uncountable

    "The government is doing its best to stop rebellion in the country."

  2. 2
    organized opposition to authority; a conflict in which one faction tries to wrest control from another wordnet
  3. 3
    Defiance of authority or control; the act of rebelling. countable

    "Having a tattoo was Mathilda's personal rebellion against her parents."

  4. 4
    refusal to accept some authority or code or convention wordnet
  5. 5
    An organized, forceful subversion of the law of the land in an attempt to replace it with another form of government. countable

    "The army general led a successful rebellion and became president of the country."

Synonyms

All synonyms
uprisinganarchismanarcho-syndicalismanarchyantinomianismchaos

Example

More examples

"The ascendancy of monarchs is what keeps their subjects from rebellion."

Etymology

From Middle English rebellioun, rebellion, from Old French rebellion, from Latin rebelliō. Equivalent for rebel + -ion.

Related phrases

Boxer Rebellionarmed rebellion

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.