rebel

A rebel is a person who resists or defies rules or norms or rises up against the powers that be.

In its more serious sense, a rebel is a revolutionary trying to overthrow a government. More generally, it means someone who breaks the rules, resists authority, or otherwise challenges the status quo by doing things in a nontraditional way, such as in fashion and other arts. As a noun, rebel is pronounced “REB-uhl.”

Rebel is also a verb meaning to resist or rise up against authority or tradition. As a verb, rebel is pronounced “ri-BELL.”

Example: Danielle refused to wear her uniform to school, fighting with the principle and urging the other girls to rebel against the policy as she did.

The first records of rebel come from around the 1300s. It is derived from the Latin bell(um), which means “war” and is also the root of war-related words like antebellum, belligerent, and bellicose.

To rebel is to make war against something you disagree with or refuse to conform to. In its most traditional sense, rebel literally means to wage war against a government or other form of rule in order to overthrow it. When multiple people participate in this kind of act, it is called a rebellion. In the American Civil War, the members of the Confederacy who attempted to secede from the Union are called Rebels. In the Star Wars series, the revolutionaries trying to bring down the Empire are known as the Rebel Alliance. 

More generally, a rebel is anyone who challenges the established rules or the way things are. Rebels reject the status quo and instead play by their own rules, regardless of society’s restrictions or expectations. Because rebels are usually (by definition) taking on those who are more powerful, they are often seen as underdogs. They are also often seen as outsiders.

Teenagers who push against the boundaries set by their parents are often described as rebellious (the adjective form of rebel). The 1955 movie Rebel Without a Cause helped to romanticize and popularize the character of the angsty teen rebel, played in the movie by James Dean.

What are some other forms of rebel?

• rebellious (adjective)
• rebellion (noun)

What are some synonyms for rebel?

• revolutionary
• revolt
• defy
• resist

What are some words that share a root or word element with rebel? 

• bellicose
• belligerent
• antebellum

What are some words that often get used in discussing rebel?

• revolution
• authority
• rule
• war
• status quo
• resistance
• insurgent
• agitator
• dissenter

Rebel is commonly used to refer to an actual revolutionary trying to overthrow a government. It is also commonly used to refer to anyone intentionally breaking rules that they disagree with. Such rebels are often seen as cool and are usually portrayed that way in popular culture.

Yemen’s government and Houthi rebels are backing UN calls for a ceasefire to help battle coronavirus, according to their respective media outlets.
The Saudi-led coalition and the secessionist Southern Transitional Council have also reportedly welcomed the call.

— BBC Monitoring (@BBCMonitoring) March 26, 2020

From couture to Cardi B: Why fashion rebel Thierry Mugler still grabs headlines https://t.co/chwvB6Hvp1 pic.twitter.com/FJVuxLJ12H

— CNN (@CNN) March 4, 2019

Early-2000’s high school movies gave me the unrealistic expectation that we were all going to be in teen bands and rebel against the system, but here I am with no musical ability and the most rebellious I get is wearing socks and Crocs

— Alex LaGrand (@aelagrand) January 6, 2019

Is rebel used correctly in the following sentence?

He was praised as a rebel for his unquestioning acceptance of the rules.