defier

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 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 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 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 The Ordinary's Granactive Retinoid* 2% Emulsion ($9.80) is a retinoid active, part of the family of age-defiers that helps reduce wrinkles. Macaela MacKenzie, Allure, 26 Jan. 2018 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
Noun
  • Among the resisters is a small but growing group of veterans, like Tamir, who openly express dissent and outrage.
    Ruth Margalit, New Yorker, 14 May 2025
  • Many war resisters, or draft dodgers as they were often called by others, were not interested in returning when Mr. Carter made his amnesty offer.
    Ruth Fremson, New York Times, 3 May 2025
Noun
  • Set in a crumbling Japanese metropolis rebuilt after a devastating explosion, Akira follows teenage rebels Kaneda and Tetsuo as secret government experiments unleash psychic forces capable of unmaking the world.
    Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 21 May 2025
  • Bombs go off to separate the authorities from the rebels.
    Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 20 May 2025
Noun
  • Few among the bureaucratic, business, and even military elites denounced the mutineers, exposing limited support for Putin.
    ANDREI YAKOVLEV, Foreign Affairs, 16 May 2025
  • The games remain incomplete, and may in fact remain that way depending on what the Front Man decides to do with Gi-hun and all of the other mutineers.
    Josh Wigler, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Jan. 2025
Noun
  • For decades, the Philippine armed forces battled insurgents in the southern reaches of the archipelago.
    ELY RATNER, Foreign Affairs, 27 May 2025
  • The insurgents have become the establishment, and the purpose of the establishment is always to protect itself.
    Chris Stirewalt, The Hill, 23 May 2025
Noun
  • Deporting supposed gang members and Hamas supporters without due process may violate any number of statutes, but forcing oppositionists to defend these people’s rights allows the administration to paint them as defending their ideas.
    Garry Kasparov, The Atlantic, 17 Apr. 2025
  • 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
Noun
  • In a country shackled and scarred by race, religion, gender, and class, much of that rationalized and reified by mainline American churches, the Disciples were genial revolutionists offering inclusion, education, and empowerment for those at the margins.
    Richard D. Mahoney, JSTOR Daily, 30 Apr. 2025
  • And many revolutionists think that new equipment has changed the patterns of advance and retreat in Ukraine relative to historical experience.
    Stephen Biddle, Foreign Affairs, 10 Aug. 2023

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Cite this Entry

“Defier.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/defier. Accessed 3 Jun. 2025.

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