🙅 A nonconformist 🚫 Refusing authority ⛪ Not attending church

recusant

9.9

Not obeying rules or orders from people in power

adjective
/ˈrɛkjʊsənt/

: recalcitrante

The recusant group refused to accept the new regulations imposed by the city council.

Examples

He admired her recusant attitude when she challenged the company's unethical practices.
During the trial, several recusant witnesses declined to follow the judge's instructions.
The recusant students protested against the strict rules.
She is known as a recusant in her community.
The recusant activists openly defied the new laws, demanding their rights be acknowledged.
Her recusant behavior during the meeting showed she would not accept the management's decisions.
The recusant teachers organized a walkout to protest the unfair treatment by the school board.

Synonyms

recalcitrant

vsrecusant

Formal

11 8.1

Not willing to follow rules or accept control

focuses on refusing official authority and not complying with established powers

refractory

vsrecusant

Specialized

1 8.7

Hard to control or manage because of stubborn behaviour

focuses on refusing official authority and not complying with established powers

Antonyms

submissive

38 5.1

Willing to obey others and not argue

compliant

31 5.1

Willing to follow rules or do what other people want

How Defiant

defiant

63 5.6

recusant

9.9

noncompliant

2 7.6

reluctant

247 3.5

obedient

45 1.0

Surface Forms

recusant positive

Morphology

recusant = recus + ant

Although the sense relates to 'refusing', the form is a learned borrowing built on a Latin participial stem with '-ant'; this is not a transparently analyzable modern English derivation for typical learners.

Etymology

Recusant comes from Latin recusare 'to refuse', the same idea behind the English word refuse. So a recusant person is someone who refuses to submit to authority or to follow the rules.