underground movement
Clandestine political organization
An underground movement is a secretive, often illegal organization working against an established authority—typically a repressive government or occupying force.
The term evokes resistance fighters during wartime or political dissidents operating in hiding.
More loosely, it describes any countercultural group deliberately avoiding mainstream visibility: an underground movement in electronic music, the underground movement that preceded gay rights.
- samizdatClandestine dissident publishing
- protest songsMusic voicing political dissent
- countercultureRejection of mainstream values
- sabotageDeliberate disruption of operations
- rebellionDefiance of established power
insurgency · dissidents · secret society · resistance · zines · sleeper agents · dead drop · spy networks · grassroots organizing · black market · covert operations · street art · subversion · hidden agenda · DIY ethos · word of mouth · whistleblowing · secret codes
- resistanceresistance, defiance, resistance fighters, civil resistance, resist
- collective actionunite, join forces, team up, mobilization, protest
- factionsfactions, faction, splinter groups, splinter party, blocs
- radicalismradical, extremism, radicalism, militancy, fanaticism
- secret groupssecret society, cabal, Freemasons, cult, coven
- LollardsOxford, recantation
underground movementpublic demonstration
Organized group protest event
underground movementestablishment
Founded organization or venue
ruling party · status quo · government · ruling class · power structure
underground movementpopular culture
Mainstream societal trends
dominant culture · mass movement · pop culture · orthodoxy · bourgeois culture