rebellious
/rɪˈbɛljəs
/adjective
1Showing a desire to resist authority, control, or convention: I became very rebellious and opted out...
- This model is rebellious and fearful of authority as a vehicle of control.
- There will always be rebellious elements, challenging authority, pushing it as far as it can be pushed.
- Maintaining that they had at least struggled to suppress their own rebellious desires, they would not countenance their daughter's refusal to do the same.
Synonyms
defiant, disobedient, insubordinate, unruly, ungovernable, unmanageable, uncontrollable, turbulent, mutinous, wayward, obstreperous, recalcitrant, refractory, intractable, resistant, dissentient, disaffected, malcontent;
nonconformist
British informal bolshie
archaic contumacious
1.1Engaged in opposition or armed resistance to an established government or leader: the rebellious republics...
- For much of the latter half of the 20th century, starting in the rebellious 1960s, the established order was suspect.
- His own ancestor had put down one of the rebellious leaders.
- The longstanding and canny leader of this rebellious crew is set to step down this summer.
Synonyms
rebel, insurgent, mutinous, disorderly, lawless, out of control, mutinying, rebelling, rioting, riotous, revolutionary, seditious, subversive;
breakaway, traitorous, renegade
rare insurrectionary, insurrectionist
1.2(Of a thing) not easily controlled or kept in place: he smoothed back a rebellious lock of hair...
- Pushing a rebellious lock of hair away from her face, Violette moved slowly to where her mother was resting, bracing herself for all the reprimands she knew was going to come her way.
- Her slender fingers raked into her ebony hair, holding the rebellious locks away from her face.
- Jamie didn't let go of his chin, but brushed a rebellious lock of blonde hair off his forehead.
Derivatives
rebelliously
- She looked at him rebelliously before saying, ‘I have to.’
- The sixteen-year-old rebelliously stuck her tongue out at the thirty-three - year-old maid, and got out of bed.
- I got up, without my plate, and stood rigidly and rebelliously in my spot.
rebelliousness
- I thought he was very truthful and very funny, and I was drawn to his rebelliousness, the irreverence.
- The works also reveal the cultural influences of the artist, who spent his youth listening to punk music that celebrates rebelliousness, an aspect that also appears frequently in his characters.
- So, this big stage that we were put on under this bright spotlight was the only place I had to play out the rebelliousness that I think everybody goes through at some point to one degree or another.