disobedience

noun

ˌdis-ə-ˈbē-dē-ən(t)s How to pronounce disobedience (audio)
Definition of disobediencenext
as in rebellion
refusal to obey they gave up on training the dog to fetch because of his constant disobedience

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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 disobedience Daemon chastising Ulf and Hugh over their disobedience, sowing the seeds of their discontent. — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026 The Catholic Church teaches that all other people are conceived with original sin as a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God in the Garden of Eden. — Bridget Retzloff, The Conversation, 2 June 2026 There is zero tolerance for political disobedience. — Daniel Drake, The New York Review of Books, 16 May 2026 He was also booked on fresh charges of felony vandalism, battery against a former dating partner and willful disobedience of a court order. — Nicole Buss, Sacbee.com, 13 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for disobedience
Recent Examples of Synonyms for disobedience
  1. rebellion
  2. defiance
  3. willfulness
  4. rebelliousness
Noun
  • Within 36 hours one of the prisoners had an apparent mental breakdown, and on the second day the inmates staged a rebellion.
    — Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 21 Oct. 2026
  • In their utopian reconstruction of a mythic past, the Agrarians’ polemics failed to mention the South’s legacies of slavery and rebellion.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of rebellion
Noun
  • This hint of connection between them is later made concrete when, at the demonstration, the two are complicit in an act of defiance — throwing a cobblestone at a policeman, badly injuring him — and must skip town for the night.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 27 Oct. 2026
  • These behaviors can be signals of distress but may be mistaken for defiance.
    — Jermaine F. Williams, Baltimore Sun, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of defiance
Noun
  • And from that boredom, a different kind of will, the willfulness that accompanies a need to destroy that happiness.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026
  • From grandmother to grandchild, these three sets of two sisters were powerful characters possessed with passion, willfulness, bravery, and devotion to each other.
    — Griffin Dunne, Vanity Fair, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of willfulness
Noun
  • That’s great news for Vanguart’s four cofounders, who established the company in 2018 with a wealth of experience, if not some serious horological rebelliousness.
    — Rachel Ingram, Robb Report, 18 Oct. 2026
  • The stigma helped imprint a stamp of rebelliousness on the brand which lives on today, says Carpenter, even as Burton has become a fixture on resort slopes across the world and within the annals of Olympian history.
    — Tom Huddleston Jr., CNBC, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of rebelliousness

Phrases Containing disobedience

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dismounts
disobedience
disobedient
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Cite this Entry

“Disobedience.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/disobedience. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

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