disobedient
/dɪsəˈbiːdɪənt
/adjective
Refusing to obey rules or someone in authority: Larry was stern with disobedient employees...
- Jacob looked utterly defeated at that moment, as if I were a disobedient child that refused to be punished.
- Very often such limitations take the form of disobedient opposition to the rules.
- In it, a mischievous and disobedient kitten, Tom, gets lost in the hidden places of ‘an old, old house, full of cupboards and passages’.
Synonyms
insubordinate, unruly, wayward, errant, badly behaved, disorderly, delinquent, disruptive, troublesome, rebellious, defiant, mutinous, recalcitrant, refractory, uncooperative, non-compliant, wilful, unbiddable, intractable, obstreperous, awkward, difficult, perverse, contrary;
naughty, mischievous, impish, roguish, rascally
British informal bolshie
archaic or Law contumacious
Derivatives
disobediently
/ adverb ...- I can hear the rain beating down on the roof like a meteor shower as our car lurches violently from side to side, rocking disobediently on its haunches, fat tyres chafing loudly over what appears to be a long, shallow pond.
- I want to talk to the boss,’ I said disobediently.
- His gray eyes glinted with an air of impatience as he offered a helping hand to another being, a small boy, his choppy brown locks sticking out disobediently in all directions as he was pulled back to his feet.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French desobedient, based on Latin oboedient- 'obeying' (see obedient).