Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use rebel in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Rebel means a person who resists an established authority, often violently. Example: “A group of rebels defied the general's orders and split off from the main army.”

Examples of rebel by meaning

nounA person who resists an established authority, often violently.

  • A group of rebels defied the general's orders and split off from the main army.
  • My little sister is such a rebel - coming home late, piercing her ears, and refusing to do any of her chores.

verbTo resist or become defiant toward an authority.

  • to rebel against the system
  • "Tedd's feeling a bit rebellious." "I'm not rebelling!2014 April 17, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Thursday, Apr 17, 2014

More sentences with rebel

  • Since this was rebel country, checkpoints were set up along the road.From the entry country
  • The conflict between the government and the rebels began three years ago.From the entry conflict
  • The rebels agreed to a ceasefire while the peace talks were underway.From the entry ceasefire
  • The inequality in living standards led to a civil war as the have-nots rebelled.From the entry inequality
  • The rebels found the suggested terms of surrender unstomachable, and went straight back to fighting.From the entry unstomachable
  • The rebel units coalesced into one army to fight the invaders.From the entry coalesced
  • The rebel forces are trying to bring down the president and his government.From the entry bring down
  • They are running guns to the rebels.From the entry run
  • Violence between the government and the rebels continues.From the entry violence
  • The rebels vowed to continue their fight.From the entry vow
  • Darius defeated the rebels in detail.From the entry in detail
  • The image was pulled from Reuters footage shot after deadly battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.2025 May 22, “Trump’s evidence of South Africa ‘white genocide’ contains images from Democratic Republic of Congo”, in The Guardian. From the entry Congolese
  • Even Yemen's Houthi rebels can fuel global inflation by droning ships.2025 June 28, Simon Kuper, “How war became contagious”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN…. From the entry drone
  • Most importantly, he was, as I will say further on, "a quiet rebel and a matriot."2019, Georges Sioui, Eatenonha: Native Roots of Modern Democracy. From the entry matriot
  • 'Here. they arrest some jumped-up little rebel called Rose.' His finger hits nine o'clock.2018, Anna Day, The Fandom. From the entry dance on a rope
  • The flâneur is a kind of rebel contrasting mercification, yet he is also consumer and producer himself.2016, Timothy Shortell, Evrick Brown, Walking in the European City: Quotidian Mobility and Urban Ethnography, →ISBN. From the entry mercification
  • Waving butcher knives and rakes." "The rebels don't stand a chance."2014 September 21, Edward W. Robertson, The Cycle of Arawn: The Complete Trilogy, Edward W. Robertson. From the entry goatback
  • A rebel is a gleaming individual in tight Levi’s, a sneering and pretty face.2013, Rachel Kushner, chapter 11, in The Flamethrowers, New York: Scribner, page 163. From the entry wet dream
  • Dominguan uprisings and violence, and especially the rebel victory, on the St.2009, Bruce R. Dain, A HIDEOUS MONSTER OF THE MIND, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 90. From the entry St. Dominguan
  • Yet her dance-and-music spectacle, ending with the phrase “You need to rebel against negativity,” teems with pedanticism.2008 April 7, Gia Kourlas, “E-Moting, E-Volving and Tipping Toward Tap”, in New York Times. From the entry pedanticism
  • But even though I was a rebel kid, I was focused in school.2006, Latina - Volume 11, page 469. From the entry wild out
  • Quite different is the way in which the tomboy girled the rebel narrative.2005, Leerom Medovoi, Rebels: Youth and the Cold War Origins of Identity, page 293. From the entry girl
  • PETA claims that these rampages result from the animals' rebelling against years of abuse and deprivation.2005, Kim Masters Evans, Animal rights. From the entry anticircus
  • Well, I've found it useful to befriend other preds, rather than rebel against them.1999, Kevin Alexander Cosmic, “Vikki and the Rat”, in alt.fan.vore (Usenet). From the entry pred
  • He was ordered to seek out the rebels along the Kama and the Viatka.1995, Sergeĭ Mikhaĭlovich Solovʹev, History of Russia, page 33. From the entry kama
  • In that respect the popular clamor for "smashing" the rebels was based on sound if oversanguine instinct.1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford, published 2003, page 335. From the entry oversanguine
  • We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators.1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene. From the entry replicator
  • A giant rally on Formosa reflects the worldwide concern for Tibet's heroic rebels.1959 February 4, Peter Roberts, 0:00 from the start, in Formosa Rallies In Support Of Tibet Rebels (1959), British Pathé. From the entry tibet
  • "Oh what fun it is to be a rebel," says Mr.1923 May 19, “Mixed Motives”, in Time. From the entry deep thinker
  • Paine "was a commonplace rebel, entirely practical." Not educated, not a deep thinker.1923 May 19, “Mixed Motives”, in Time. From the entry deep thinker
  • Even the non-unionists are rebelling at the benevolent despotism of the "Industrial Freedomites."1911 May, “A Letter from the South. Contributed by Los Angeles Strike Committee.”, in Jas. W. Kline, editor, The Blacksmiths Journal…. From the entry freedomite
  • You are not rebelling against the man.2023 September 5, Arwa Mahdawi, “Why all the Burning Man schadenfreude? Where do I start ...”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the…. From the entry the man
  • Everyone in my school flew rebel flags and had rebel flag tattoos and I bandwagoned and got the tattoo.2020 June 14, Alaa Elassar, quoting Jennifer Tucker, “A Kentucky tattoo shop is offering to cover up hate and gang symbols for free”, in…. From the entry bandwagon
  • One of the rebels hanging in agony next to Jesus lifted his head and barked in Jesus's direction, “Hey, Messiah!2016 April 13, William J. O'Malley, Being There: The Parables of Jesus in a Different Voice, Orbis Books, →ISBN, →LCCN. From the entry lamehead
  • In nearby Zintan, rebels repelled an advance by Gaddafi's forces, killing eight and taking one prisoner, a local activist said.2011 May 19, Ian Traynor, The Guardian. From the entry repel
  • The Decembrist-led rebels were surrounded by troops loyal to Nicholas on the banks of the Neva River in St.2009, Frank L. Kidner, Maria Bucur, Ralph Mathisen, Sally McKee, Theodore R. Weeks, Making Europe: People, Politics, and Culture, Volume…. From the entry Decembrist

Meaning of rebel

  1. noun A person who resists an established authority, often violently.
  2. noun Synonym of Confederate: a citizen of the Confederate States of America, especially a Confederate soldier.
  3. verb To resist or become defiant toward an authority.

Full definition of rebel

Questions about rebel in a sentence

How do you use rebel in a sentence?
Rebel is used as a noun and verb. For example: “A group of rebels defied the general's orders and split off from the main army.”
What is a short sentence with rebel?
“to rebel against the system”
What does rebel mean?
Rebel means a person who resists an established authority, often violently.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rebel (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use rebel in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/rebel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.