defier

noun

Definition of defiernext
as in resister

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of defier Critics see a reckless defier of laws and norms who must be held to account. — Chicago Tribune, Twin Cities, 17 Nov. 2019 Belichick is the league’s most prominent convention-defier; Schwartz is a veteran myth-buster. — Michael Rosenberg, SI.com, 2 Feb. 2018 Everybody enjoys being thought of as a scofflaw, or a hell-raiser, or defier of authority, especially if such activity happened in the past. — Karen Martin, Arkansas Online, 29 Nov. 2020 Evan Turk’s provocative and emotive illustrations, portraits within this portrait, bring swirling movement and feeling to the story of this defier and definer of the times. — BostonGlobe.com, 22 Apr. 2021 Roy Moore, defier of Supreme Courts, thumper of Bibles, hater of gays and everyone else who is not exactly like Roy Moore, is the Republican nominee for Senate in Alabama. — Sarah Jones, New Republic, 27 Sep. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for defier
  1. resister
  2. challenger
  3. rebel
  4. mutineer
  5. insurgent
  6. oppositionist
Noun
  • In November 1971, Berkeley, California, became the first sanctuary city in the country when 12 local churches inspired the City Council to pass a resolution offering sanctuary to draft resisters.
    — Menika Dirkson, The Conversation, 8 Apr. 2026
  • Clemson resister Dabo Swinney has driven his program into the ground.
    — Stewart Mandel, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2026
Definition of resister
Noun
  • Her victory over leftist challenger Roberto Sánchez marks her fourth presidential bid and makes her Peru’s first female president-elect.
    — Bonny Chu, FOXNews.com, 1 July 2026
  • Republican Mark Baisley didn't face a challenger for the GOP nomination and will face Hickelooper in the November general election.
    — Jesse Sarles, CBS News, 1 July 2026
Definition of challenger
Noun
  • Gillespie also has a reputation for melding music to movies, as seen in Cruella, his 2021 movie that cast Disney villainess Cruella de Vil as a punk rock rebel in London’s fashion scene.
    — Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 3 July 2026
  • The winner is the daughter of the late Alberto Fujimori, the former president whose government in the 1990s defeated the Shining Path extremist rebel group but also took an authoritarian turn.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 July 2026
Definition of rebel
Noun
  • Pitcairn is well-known as the island on which Fletcher Christian and other British mutineers from the HMS Bounty took refuge after the 1789 events that toppled Capt.
    — Matthew Lee, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2026
  • 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
Definition of mutineer
Noun
  • Fujimori, 51, is the daughter of late President Alberto Fujimori, who governed the country ​with an iron fist from 1990 to 2000 and was credited with defeating Maoist insurgents and taming runaway hyperinflation.
    — Reuters, NBC news, 4 July 2026
  • Syria has been without a parliament since the December 2024 offensive by insurgents led by al-Sharaa’s now defunct Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, which ended the Assad family’s five-decade dynasty.
    — Ghaith Alsayed, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026
Definition of insurgent
Noun
  • Yesterday, in an effort to galvanize democratic forces, oppositionists announced the foundation of the Strategic Council of Republicans Inside Iran.
    — Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 1 Mar. 2026
  • 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
Definition of oppositionist

Browse Nearby Words

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defier
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Cite this Entry

“Defier.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defier. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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