Definition of "rebel" []

• To refuse allegiance to and oppose by force an established government or ruling authority. (verb-intransitive)
• To resist or defy an authority or a generally accepted convention. (verb-intransitive)
• To feel or express strong unwillingness or repugnance: She rebelled at the unwelcome suggestion. (verb-intransitive)
• One who rebels or is in rebellion: "He is the perfect recruit for fascist movements: a rebel not a revolutionary, contemptuous yet envious of the rich and involved with them” ( Stanley Hoffman). (noun)
• A Confederate soldier. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Your Lordships will find that he never is a rebel to one party without being a tyrant to some others; that _rebel_ and _tyrant_ are correlative terms, when applied to him, and that they constantly go together."
• "The Leinster king, however, could neither be frightened nor persuaded into seeing matters in that light, and, probably, thought the term rebel would be more appropriately applied to those who resisted the native rulers of the country."
• "Unlike many, I don't find the term "rebel" pejorative; George Washington was a rebel."