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
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
The slogan put the audience in the shoes of a casually bigoted, insubordinate alcoholic who bends the NYPD’s rules in pursuit of drug runners.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 27 Feb. 2025
Instead, over-centralization has produced the opposite effect, fragmenting the bureaucracy, encouraging bureaucrats to pursue their own interests, and enabling regional elites to become increasingly insubordinate—with Ramzan Kadyrov, Putin’s strongman in Chechnya, being the prime example.
—Alexander J. Motyl, Foreign Affairs, 27 Jan. 2016
See All Example Sentences for insubordinate
Adjective
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
The slogan put the audience in the shoes of a casually bigoted, insubordinate alcoholic who bends the NYPD’s rules in pursuit of drug runners.
—David Sims, The Atlantic, 27 Feb. 2025
Instead, over-centralization has produced the opposite effect, fragmenting the bureaucracy, encouraging bureaucrats to pursue their own interests, and enabling regional elites to become increasingly insubordinate—with Ramzan Kadyrov, Putin’s strongman in Chechnya, being the prime example.
—Alexander J. Motyl, Foreign Affairs, 27 Jan. 2016
See All Example Sentences for insubordinate
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insubordinate
Adjective
-
Your 6th House of Labor hosts mental Mercury, which squares rebellious Uranus in your 9th House of Journeys, stirring tension between tradition and modernization.—
Tarot.com,
Sun Sentinel,
5 Feb. 2026
-
Lang went on to appear in most of Fuller’s films, including playing a rebellious German countess in his 1980 war epic The Big Red One, and several by their friend Wim Wenders.—
Erik Pedersen,
Deadline,
4 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Lucas’s focus on getting paid brings him in for the book’s harshest criticism; Fischer casts him as a rebel turned sellout.—
Michael O’Donnell,
The Atlantic,
10 Feb. 2026
-
On the other hand, Bennu is the rebel — its glycine likely originated in frozen ice exposed to harsh radiation in the outer reaches of the solar system.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
9 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
Other defiant moments on a global stage The NFL has long maintained guardrails around the halftime show, particularly when performances edge toward political commentary.—
Dallas Morning News,
Dallas Morning News,
4 Feb. 2026
-
Bill and Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify in person to a Republican congressional investigation into notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, apparently ending their defiant campaign of resistance.—
Dave Goldiner,
New York Daily News,
3 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Progressive senators are wading into Democratic primaries across the country, at times breaking from their leaders to back more left-leaning or insurgent candidates — with the notable exception of Texas.—
Burgess Everett,
semafor.com,
10 Feb. 2026
-
Those funds often backed far-right Republican insurgents.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
From the beginning, a mayoral run would have been a risky move for Horvath, who is not expected to face any major challengers to her own bid for reelection.—
David Zahniser,
Los Angeles Times,
7 Feb. 2026
-
But challengers Marcos Vélez, a Houston labor leader, and political newcomer Courtney Head say three decades of Democratic statewide losses demand a break from the past and a new generation of leadership.—
Karen Brooks Harper,
Dallas Morning News,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Sherrill focused many of her critiques on ICE and Trump’s immigration policies, positioning the state as a major resister of Trump’s deportation plans.—
Brady Knox,
The Washington Examiner,
20 Jan. 2026
-
There’s also no strategic plan or national campaign in place that assures nonviolent resisters that their involvement is part of a grand strategy.—
Michael Shank,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Or an historian of Polynesian culture giving a lecture about tattooing, or the time Captain Bligh stopped on the atoll to look for the mutineer Fletcher Christian.—
Antonia Quirke,
Condé Nast Traveler,
22 Jan. 2026
-
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
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 14 Feb. 2026.
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