Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
✊ A person who resists ✊ To resist authority
to rebel

to rebel

48 4.1
To act against the government or people in power
  • verb
  • /rɪˈbɛl/
translation icon : rebelarse contra
  • So my father kind of rebelled against his father.
  • begin to rebel
  • right to rebel
  • rebel against God

And my thing was anything that they rebelled against, I was drawn to.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Many artists rebel against conventional styles to create something unique.

  • But I think it's a healthy process to rebel against everything that came before.

    Before Sunrise (1995)

  • You know, why rebel in the street and and fight?

    Gregory B. Sadler - That Philosophy Guy

  • People need to see a face, something to rebel against.

    Roe v. Wade (2021)

  • Look, if you wanna rebel there, you can do it.

    SLC Punk (1998)

  • So we can have resistance and we can rebel in our own way.

    Rob Moore

  • Every morality I know rebels against this.

  • They will rebel and they will find a way out.

  • A few disruptive students may rebel against the guidelines or rules by ignoring them.

    Academic text (1990)

  • Some employees are not OK with this and they're rebelling by quiet quitting.

    ClearValue Tax

Synonyms

to resist
vsto rebel
311 2.2

Act against authority, rules or change

focuses specifically on opposing authority, control, or tradition
to defy
vsto rebel
178 3.7

Openly refuse to obey someone or seem to resist a force like time

opposes authority generally rather than necessarily publicly challenging it
to rise
vsto rebel
76 8.0

To start a fight against those in power

can refer to opposing authority without using armed force
to rise up
vsto rebel
69 5.8

Join others to fight against those in power

covers general opposition, not only active participation in uprisings
to revolt
vsto rebel
22 4.9

Rise up against a government or ruler

means opposing authority more broadly, not only large uprisings
to go rogue
vsto rebel
19 7.5

To act alone and ignore rules or orders

opposes authority in principle rather than simply acting independently
to arise
vsto rebel
  • Literature
10 8.9

Take part in a rebellion against a ruler or government

is broader, applying to opposition without necessarily leaving past loyalties

Antonyms

to comply
332 3.8

Do what a rule or person asks

to submit
187 4.1

To accept another person's control, often against your wishes

Compounds

Lautaro Popular Rebel Forces
  • NSFW
9.9

A Chilean armed group formed in the 1980s that used violence to fight the military government

How Rebellious

to overthrow
127 5.1
to revolt
22 4.9
to rebel
48 4.1
to defy
178 3.7
to resist
311 2.2
to oppose
∞ 2.9
to disagree
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

rebel infinitive
rebelled past
rebelled past participle
rebelling present participle
rebels third person singular

Etymology

The word rebel comes from the Latin parts re- 'again' and bellum 'war', so to rebel originally meant 'to make war again'. That's why to rebel today means to refuse to obey or to fight against authority.