English Explanatory Dictionary

rebel

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A person who resists an established authority, often violently.
  2. Synonym of Confederate: a citizen of the Confederate States of America, especially a Confederate soldier.
verb
  1. To resist or become defiant toward an authority.
  2. To forcefully subvert the law of the land in an attempt to replace it with another form of government.
noun
  1. A Confederate soldier; of the American Civil War.
name
  1. A surname from German.

Pronunciation

rĕbʹəl /ˈɹɛb.əl/ en-us-rebel.ogg /ˈɹeb.əl/ rĭ-bĕlʹ /ɹɪˈbɛl/ en-us-rebel-verb.ogg /ɹɪˈbel/

Word forms

rebel rebels rebelling rebelled

Etymology

From Middle English rebel, rebell, from Old French rebelle, from Latin rebellis (“waging war again; insurgent”), from rebellō (“to wage war again, fight back”), from re- (“again, back”) + bellō (“to wage war”).

Synonyms

malcontent renegade Confederate defy Johnny Reb Reb

Antonyms

obey submit

Related words

rebellion rebellious

Derived words

antirebel Euro-rebel Johnny Reb nonrebel reb rebeldom rebeless rebel flag rebelhood rebellike rebelly rebelsome rebel without a cause rebel yell nonrebelling unrebelling
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on R Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary