as in rebellious
given to resisting authority or another's control
several recusant senators refused to vote as commanded by the party leadership
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in resister
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of recusant
Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 15 July 2019
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for recusant
Adjective
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Many historians estimate that at least 15 to 20 percent of the population remained loyal to the crown, some even taking up arms against their rebellious neighbors and fighting alongside the British.—
Greg Daugherty,
Smithsonian Magazine,
4 June 2025
-
Inspired by 1953’s The Wild One starring Marlon Brando, the song and video captures the rebellious spirit of the cult classic, with scenes of a motorcycle being driven on an open road and birds in flight.—
Althea Legaspi,
Rolling Stone,
4 June 2025
Noun
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Among the resisters is a small but growing group of veterans, like Tamir, who openly express dissent and outrage.—
Ruth Margalit,
New Yorker,
14 May 2025
-
Many war resisters, or draft dodgers as they were often called by others, were not interested in returning when Mr. Carter made his amnesty offer.—
Ruth Fremson,
New York Times,
3 May 2025
Adjective
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Yet none of this has dampened Mr. Trump’s enthusiasm for bringing U.S. influence to bear in trying to end the rebel incursion – in part because the fighting has affected a region that holds some of Congo’s main rare earth deposits.—
Ned Temko,
Christian Science Monitor,
12 June 2025
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The legislature entertained several bills—including two from Sumner—to authorize the government to seize rebel property, including slaves.—
Zaakir Tameez
June 11,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2025
Adjective
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Kim Kardashian made a defiant walk into Paris' Palace of Justice in May, to face the criminals who held the reality star at gunpoint and robbed in 2016.—
Doc Louallen,
ABC News,
6 June 2025
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In curating the show, Moore sought to elevate artists whose work embodies this tension while also offering something tender, vulnerable, and defiant.—
Okla Jones,
Essence,
5 June 2025
Noun
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Few among the bureaucratic, business, and even military elites denounced the mutineers, exposing limited support for Putin.—
ANDREI YAKOVLEV,
Foreign Affairs,
16 May 2025
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The games remain incomplete, and may in fact remain that way depending on what the Front Man decides to do with Gi-hun and all of the other mutineers.—
Josh Wigler,
The Hollywood Reporter,
2 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Accreditors must put an end to schools’ willful ignorance of employment outcomes.—
Ryan Craig,
Forbes.com,
13 June 2025
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Chief among them was immigration, after nearly four years of willful neglect at the border had left the party’s reputation in tatters.—
W. James Antle III,
The Washington Examiner,
13 June 2025
Noun
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Deporting supposed gang members and Hamas supporters without due process may violate any number of statutes, but forcing oppositionists to defend these people’s rights allows the administration to paint them as defending their ideas.—
Garry Kasparov,
The Atlantic,
17 Apr. 2025
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Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is a Sunni Islamist umbrella group of oppositionist forces with ideological and organizational roots in al-Qaeda.—
Joseph Epstein,
Newsweek,
10 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Authorities have also reported sightings of ELN guerrillas, a Colombian-Venezuelan insurgent faction, operating near key Guyanese border towns.—
Antonio Maria Delgado,
Miami Herald,
6 June 2025
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Spain approved the deal on Oct. 3, 2023, four days before an insurgent assault led by Hamas on southern Israel that sparked a devastating war in Gaza.—
Brittany Williams,
Arkansas Online,
4 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Recusant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/recusant. Accessed 17 Jun. 2025.
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