REBELS Synonyms: 49 Similar and Opposite Words

rebels 1 of 2

noun

plural of rebel

as in insurgents

a person who rises up against authority the rebel would not submit peacefully, even after he was captured

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rebels

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of rebel

as in revolts

to rise up against established authority the colonists rebelled in the wake of an onslaught of abuses

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Recent Examples of rebels

Noun

Nathaniel Bacon and his rebels set fire to Jamestown, the capital of the Virginia colony. — USA Today, 1 Sep. 2026 Smokejumpers kicked cargo destined for mountain villages in Vietnam, Hmong rebels in Laos, and Muslim dissidents in China. — M. R. O’Connor, New Yorker, 31 Aug. 2026 Unlike in Libya, where Moammar Gadhafi and his son Mutassim were captured and killed by rebels within months, the Assad regime retained its grip on power for years, brutally crushing protesters in the process. — Rob Picheta, CNN Money, 30 Aug. 2026 In her 1974 novel The Hearing Trumpet, a nonagenarian vegetarian heroine named Marian rebels against patriarchal institutions. — Kelly Presutti, ARTnews.com, 28 Aug. 2026 Al-Sharaa ousted President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 in an offensive led by HTS rebels. — Emma Bussey, FOXNews.com, 25 Aug. 2026 The designation remained throughout the rule of his son Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled by rebels led by current President Ahmed al-Sharaa in December 2024. — Reuters, NBC news, 24 Aug. 2026 The deal came as Washington increased pressure on neighboring Rwanda over its support for M23 rebels, a dynamic analysts say may help explain Congo’s willingness to cooperate. — Mark Banchereau, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026 Three Houthi military sources and a spokesman for the Yemeni government forces battling them near the waterway also told AFP the rebels are planning to advance south from their current territory. — August 20, CBS News, 20 Aug. 2026

Verb

Masahiro Motoki — the Oscar-winning star of Departures — plays a lord who rebels against warlord Oda Nobunaga and barricades himself inside Arioka Castle, only to face a string of unsolved murders within its walls. — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 18 Mar. 2026 Set against the backdrop of the 1998 São Paulo World Cup between Brazil and France, Amarela follows 14-year-old Erika Oguihara (Melissa Uehara), a Japanese Brazilian sports fanatic who rebels against her family’s more Japanese cultural traditions. — Destiny Jackson, Deadline, 10 Jan. 2026 As the professor navigates retirement, the baby grows into a rambunctious child who rebels against the traditions of her fishing community. — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for rebels

Noun

The insecurity landscape is also more chaotic because some groups, after initially being invited to help defend against insurgents, turned into terrorists, said Dengiyefa Angalapu, an analyst at the Center for Democracy and Development in Abuja.

— Alexander Onukwue, semafor.com, 31 Aug. 2026
Socialists have found a new footing in the party, with younger and more left-wing insurgents ousting older establishment figures to demand generational and ideological change.

— Ramsey Touchberry, The Washington Examiner, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of insurgents

Noun

Centrist Democrats are not socialists, not revolutionaries, and not disposed to blame Zionist conspiracies for every trouble in American life, including police brutality and urban gentrification.

— David Frum, The Atlantic, 19 Aug. 2026
To make matters worse, ten days later, revolutionaries stormed the Bastille.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 12 Aug. 2026