as in rebellious
given to resisting authority or another's control
the junior officer was court-martialed for being insubordinate
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as in rebel
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Recent Examples of insubordinate
Arkansas Online, 26 Dec. 2025
Meanwhile, Monica is having work troubles at her new job as head chef at Allesandro's restaurant involving an insubordinate kitchen staff, and Phoebe sets out to write a Christmas song for her friends but struggles with rhymes.
—Eric Todisco, PEOPLE, 13 Dec. 2025
Sean Audy with the Will County sheriff’s office said the defendant also caused trouble at the Will County jail, including threatening a deputy, being insubordinate and uncooperative.
—Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2025
Respondents said those issues include violent, destructive or insubordinate behavior by the students.
—Rachel Wegner, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for insubordinate
Adjective
Weiss' defenders have blasted the show's staff as insubordinate and misdirected.
—Arkansas Online, 26 Dec. 2025
Meanwhile, Monica is having work troubles at her new job as head chef at Allesandro's restaurant involving an insubordinate kitchen staff, and Phoebe sets out to write a Christmas song for her friends but struggles with rhymes.
—Eric Todisco, PEOPLE, 13 Dec. 2025
Sean Audy with the Will County sheriff’s office said the defendant also caused trouble at the Will County jail, including threatening a deputy, being insubordinate and uncooperative.
—Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2025
Respondents said those issues include violent, destructive or insubordinate behavior by the students.
—Rachel Wegner, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for insubordinate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insubordinate
Adjective
-
The 8-episode first season charts the improbable ascent of Joe and Rose Kennedy and their nine children, including rebellious second son Jack, who struggles to escape the shadow of his golden boy older brother.—
Denise Petski,
Deadline,
27 Mar. 2026
-
In a mountain resort, rebellious snowboarders uncover a nuclear conspiracy in a uranium mine.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
27 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
As the decade wore on, though, my parents grew up—as happens to young rebels—and my mother, unexpectedly, started thinking about having kids.—
Zayd Ayers Dohrn,
New Yorker,
28 Mar. 2026
-
Their work and mental health were further disrupted when Houthi rebels in Yemen began attacking ships in the Red Sea, with at least nine sailors killed and 11 others held captive for five months.—
Mithil Aggarwal,
NBC news,
27 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
In mid-19th century Iran, painter Nowruz falls for a fearlessly defiant Roma fortune teller, sparking their desperate flight and a tragic saga echoing down generations, the synopsis runs.—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
31 Mar. 2026
-
Near the close of the No Kings rally in Lincolnwood on Saturday afternoon, the chants rang out from beneath the waving American flag with a defiant twist.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
31 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The act as insurgent against privilege, set to die in the rot of reason.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
31 Mar. 2026
-
Mills’s primary opponent, oyster farmer and progressive insurgent Graham Platner, echoed other outsiders last year in calling for Schumer to lose his leadership post over his government shutdown dealings with Republicans.—
Ramsey Touchberry,
The Washington Examiner,
28 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Speakers call for Democratic challengers While Saturday’s signs took wide aim, the messages coming from the event’s speakers were decidedly local.—
Mark Dee,
Idaho Statesman,
28 Mar. 2026
-
Gromlich described Louisiana’s 4th District as a heavily Republican area that has not had a Democratic challenger in recent election cycles.—
Arizona Republic,
AZCentral.com,
28 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Some may remember back in the bad old days of the 1960s and ‘70s, tax resisters rose up to protest the Vietnam War.—
Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
25 Mar. 2026
-
Tanimoto, as the last living Block 42 resister, carries a singular piece of that history — a controversy and act of resistance within the walls of confinement that illustrated the dilemma faced by people imprisoned by their own country without accusation of a crime.—
Jake Goodrick,
Sacbee.com,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Language purists like to remind anyone who will listen that decimation actually means the slaughter of one in ten people, and was the military punishment wielded by the Roman army against deserters and mutineers.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
20 Oct. 2025
-
Few among the bureaucratic, business, and even military elites denounced the mutineers, exposing limited support for Putin.—
ANDREI YAKOVLEV,
Foreign Affairs,
16 May 2025
Noun
-
The uniform of the conformist — sports shirt, cardigan, tennis shoes — is as easily recognized as that of the recusant — dirty white T, sideburns, two days’ growth of beard.—
Chris Jones,
chicagotribune.com,
15 July 2019
Cite this Entry
“Insubordinate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insubordinate. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
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