Insurgent

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Insurgent \In*sur"gent\, a. [L. insurgens, p. pr. of insurgere
     to rise up; pref. in- in + surgere to rise. See {Surge}.]
     Rising in opposition to civil or political authority, or
     against an established government; insubordinate; rebellious.
     "The insurgent provinces." --Motley.
     [1913 Webster]



From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Insurgent \In*sur"gent\, n. [Cf. F. insurgent.]
     A person who rises in revolt against civil authority or an
     established government; one who openly and actively resists
     the execution of laws; a rebel.
  
     Syn: See {Rebel}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  insurgent
       adj : in opposition to a civil authority or government [syn: {seditious},
              {subversive}]
       n 1: a person who takes part in an armed rebellion against the
            constituted authority (especially in the hope of
            improving conditions) [syn: {insurrectionist}, {freedom
            fighter}, {rebel}]
       2: a member of an irregular armed force that fights a stronger
          force by sabotage and harassment [syn: {guerrilla}, {guerilla},
           {irregular}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  36 Moby Thesaurus words for "insurgent":
     agitator, anarch, anarchist, brawler, breakaway, contumacious,
     extreme, extremist, extremistic, factious, frondeur, insubordinate,
     insurrectionary, insurrectionist, insurrecto, malcontent, maverick,
     mutineer, mutineering, mutinous, nonconformist, rebel, rebellious,
     revolter, revolutional, revolutionary, revolutionist, rioter,
     riotous, seditionary, seditious, subversive, traitor, traitorous,
     treasonable, turbulent
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  INSURGENT. One who is concerned in an insurrection. He differs from a rebel 
  in this, that rebel is always understood in a bad sense, or one who unjustly 
  opposes the constituted authorities; insurgent may be one who justly opposes 
  the tyranny of constituted authorities. The colonists who opposed the 
  tyranny of the English government were insurgents, not rebels.