Insurgent

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ɪnˈsəːdʒ(ə)nt/

Definitions

1. A person who rises in active revolt against an established government or authority
2. An individual who engages in rebellion against a ruling authority or an established regime
3. An individual who actively opposes and fights against established government control

Etymology: The English word "insurgent" is a compound built from "surgere," which means "to rise," and a prefix that turns that rising into rebellion. Latin "īnsurgō" meant "to rise up against," with "in" carrying the sense of "against" and "surgō" supplying the rising. Behind "surgō" sits a more surprising layer: it was formed from "sub," meaning "up from below," and "regō," meaning "to guide or rule." So a word for rebellion is, at root, a lifting of something that was meant to be guided and governed. The Latin verb produced the present participle "īnsurgēns," which passed into English as "insurgent." The noun "insurgent" entered English by the early 1800s, and the word's sense of an armed rebel against a government took hold through the 19th century.

Synonyms: rebel, revolutionary, dissident, insurrectionist, mutineer

Antonyms: loyalist, supporter, follower, patriot, defender