How to Use disobedient in a Sentence

disobedient

adjective
  • The dog was being disobedient.
  • The disobedient soldier was given cleanup duty.
  • Hochman has thick brown hair, with a disobedient cowlick in front, and large brown eyes.
    — Sam Adler-Bell, The New Republic, 3 Dec. 2021
  • The more disobedient people are, the longer this mess is a mess.
    — Lisa Lerer, New York Times, 23 Apr. 2020
  • One was unruly, willful and disobedient, and the other was calm and easy to be around.
    — Haben Kelati, Washington Post, 14 Feb. 2024
  • At any point, a willingness to be both selfish and disobedient would have saved her.
    — Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge, 25 Sep. 2024
  • Qatar’s headache and the need to discipline the disobedient son.
    — Zainab Fattah, Bloomberg.com, 30 May 2017
  • My left foot can be disobedient, dragging through the water like a weighted anchor.
    — Purnima Mani, Good Housekeeping, 22 July 2023
  • Contestants rarely oppose the lead of the show; to see one be so directly disobedient was thrilling.
    — Rebecca Farley, refinery29.com, 13 Mar. 2018
  • So things like being disobedient or causing a disturbance at school.
    — Lauren Goode, WIRED, 24 Aug. 2023
  • Kennedy Tolson is the sly queen of side-eye as the disobedient new housemaid Nancy.
    — Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 16 Aug. 2025
  • The effect of scolding was more pronounced when the dogs were obedient, not disobedient.
    — Seriously Science, Discover Magazine, 13 Feb. 2015
  • His most famous role was being the misunderstood father who tried to give the universe to his very disobedient twins.
    — Claudia Harmata, PEOPLE.com, 29 Nov. 2020
  • Societies often label women like me who choose to go against the norm as disobedient or defiant.
    — Jay Parini, CNN, 7 Aug. 2021
  • Instead, he was taken to a dorm room reserved for punishing disobedient workers.
    — Isabelle Qian, New York Times, 17 Dec. 2023
  • In the series, the younger Turner inherits a disobedient pooch.
    — Bill Keveney, USA TODAY, 9 Aug. 2021
  • The appeasement to the disobedient students and lawless left wing anarchists is absurd.
    — Mercury News Readers, The Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2017
  • His famously disobedient hair has been tamed and sprayed into a modest, vaguely evangelical pouf.
    — Allison Glock, Esquire, 1 Nov. 2014
  • In response, the lieutenant governor said Youngkin could pull funding from disobedient districts.
    — Washington Post, 23 Jan. 2022
  • Breaking curfew, the disobedient trio foreshadows the triangle that will define the drama.
    — Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Apr. 2022
  • Bone was born in Budapest in 1889 and proved an intelligent — if disobedient — child.
    — Michael Harris, Discover Magazine, 16 May 2017
  • As the news broke, our director Ken Olin was literally attempting to direct a disobedient puppy in a scene.
    — Marcus Jones, EW.com, 16 July 2019
  • The Islamic regime has always operated in a way of wanting to make examples of disobedient people.
    — Lily Moayeri, Variety, 16 Dec. 2022
  • In January, Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law that toughened penalties, which include jail time, for those who refuse to serve, or who are disobedient.
    — Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 15 June 2023
  • As a drone whirred overhead and hooded people spray-painted the building and its fixtures, the protestors advocated for more civilly disobedient methods.
    — Dante Motley, Austin American Statesman, 8 Jan. 2026
  • Kyiv's revenge-seekers have already been shelling Donbas every day and are unwilling to hold peace talks, while dreaming about doing away with the disobedient population.
    — Carol Morello, Washington Post, 23 Dec. 2017
  • In this view, disobedient journalists, scientific experts, officials, and judges are the enemy.
    — Pippa Norris, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2021
  • In the Indigenous Shuar communities of the Amazon, disobedient children were disciplined by giving them a juice called maikua, made from Brugmansia flowers.
    — Mindy Weisberger, CNN, 10 Apr. 2023
  • Youngkin spokeswoman Macaulay Porter did not directly reply to a question Friday asking what steps the governor will take to ensure disobedient districts allow families to send their children to school maskless.
    — Washington Post, 21 Jan. 2022
  • Just as Mr Modi has brought a new style of hardball politics to Indian elections, complete with sectarian incitement and online trolling, his government has taken a tougher line with disobedient states.
    — The Economist, 31 Oct. 2020

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'disobedient.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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