To renounce, and resist by force, the authority of the ruler or government to which one owes obedience
`johnny' was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War; `grayback' derived from their gray Confederate uniforms
a person who takes part in an armed rebellion against the constituted authority (especially in the hope of improving conditions)
Politicians who oppose some of their own party's policies can be referred to as rebels. The rebels want another 1% cut in interest rates
You can say that someone is a rebel if you think that they behave differently from other people and have rejected the values of society or of their parents. She had been a rebel at school
If politicians rebel against one of their own party's policies, they show that they oppose it. More than forty Conservative MPs rebelled against the government and voted against the bill. MPs planning to rebel over the proposed welfare cuts
To be disobedient to authority; to assume a hostile or insubordinate attitude; to revolt
When someone rebels, they start to behave differently from other people and reject the values of society or of their parents. The child who rebels is unlikely to be overlooked I was very young and rebelling against everything