rebellion
Rising against authority
Rebellion is open resistance to authority, especially organized armed opposition to a government.
The term covers everything from local uprisings to full-scale civil wars: The rebellion was crushed within weeks.
More loosely, rebellion describes any defiance of rules or expectations: teenage rebellion, a rebellion against corporate culture.
The word implies active resistance rather than mere disagreement—rebels don't just object, they act.
Organized resistance to power
- insurrectionViolent uprising against authority
- mutinyRevolt against authority
- coupAbrupt seizure of power
- overthrowForcible removal from power
sedition · insurgency · revolution · coup d'état · putsch · guerrilla · insurgents · junta
Public display of opinion
- activismDirect effort for reform
- boycottOrganized economic protest
- marchRhythmic group walk
- rallyGathering for a cause
sit-in · civil disobedience · picketing · petition · strike · vigil · placards · chanting
Inciting revolt against government
- sabotageDeliberate disruption of operations
- espionageCovert intelligence gathering
- infiltrationCovert entry into organization
- conspiracyClandestine coordinated scheming
subterfuge · treason · traitor · mole · spy · saboteur · conspirator · undermining
Refusal to follow orders
- insubordinationDefying workplace authority
- noncomplianceFailure to follow requirements
- recalcitranceStubborn refusal to obey
- contumacyObstinate resistance to authority
dissent · opposition · unruliness · obstinacy · willfulness · waywardness · intractability · stubbornness
Abandoning one's loyalty
- renunciationFormal surrender of claim
- heresyBelief opposing official doctrine
- disloyaltyBreach of allegiance
- abandonmentAct of leaving permanently
disaffection · estrangement · abjuration · recantation · betrayal · turncoat · renegade · desertion
Sixties counterculture member
- undergroundBelow ground or countercultural
- subcultureGroup with alternative norms
- avant-gardeInnovative cultural pioneers
- nonconformityRejection of prevailing norms
antiestablishment · deviance · alternative · fringe · outsider · dropout · radical · iconoclasm
revolt
Organized resistance to power
- insurrectionViolent uprising against authority
- mutinyRevolt against authority
- coupAbrupt seizure of power
overthrow · sedition · insurgency · revolution · coup d'état · putsch · guerrilla · insurgents · junta · secession
demonstration
Public display of opinion
rally · sit-in · civil disobedience · picketing · petition · strike · vigil · placards · chanting · banner
sedition
Inciting revolt against government
- sabotageDeliberate disruption of operations
- espionageCovert intelligence gathering
- infiltrationCovert entry into organization
conspiracy · subterfuge · treason · traitor · mole · spy · saboteur · conspirator · undermining · agitation
disobedience
Refusal to follow orders
- insubordinationDefying workplace authority
- noncomplianceFailure to follow requirements
- recalcitranceStubborn refusal to obey
contumacy · dissent · opposition · unruliness · obstinacy · willfulness · waywardness · intractability · stubbornness · refusal
defection
Abandoning one's loyalty
- renunciationFormal surrender of claim
- heresyBelief opposing official doctrine
- disloyaltyBreach of allegiance
abandonment · disaffection · estrangement · abjuration · recantation · betrayal · turncoat · renegade · desertion · faithlessness
hippie
Sixties counterculture member
- undergroundBelow ground or countercultural
- subcultureGroup with alternative norms
- avant-gardeInnovative cultural pioneers
nonconformity · antiestablishment · deviance · alternative · fringe · outsider · dropout · radical · iconoclasm · Haight-Ashbury
- childhoodchildhood, baby, child, kid, toys
- Revolutionrevolt, uprising, insurrection, overthrow, revolutionaries
- social conceptssociety, community, equality, justice, rights
- defiancedefiance, disobedience, insubordination, noncompliance, disobey
- Epic BattlesTrojan War, Thermopylae, 300, Gladiator, Braveheart
- mutinymutiny, mutineer, mutinous, naval mutiny, revolt
rebellioncounterrevolution
Reversal of political upheaval
counterinsurgency · loyalty · allegiance · loyalism · collaboration
rebellionobedience
Compliance with authority
submission · compliance · conformity · subservience · subordination
- rebellious spiritDisposition against compliance
- teenage rebellionAdolescent resistance to authority
- teen rebellionAdolescent resistance to authority
- rebellious teenagerAuthority-resisting young person
- slave rebellionsUprisings by enslaved people
- armed rebellionViolent resistance to authority
rebellious, rebelling, rebellions, rebelliousness, rebelliously