refusenik

variants also refusnik

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 refusenik Instead, Elam became a refusenik, as conscientious objectors are called in Israel, over his disapproval of the Israel-Hamas war. Jade Walker, CNN, 25 Mar. 2025 After getting a secret greenlight in March 1990, Mr. Reichmann was aboard his private plane to Lithuania to pick up refusenik Raiz and his son. Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2023 When the Soviet Union lifted its ban on the Jewish refusenik emigration in 1971, my family saw their opportunity to start over in America. Washington Post, 3 Mar. 2022 Vaccine mandates by large companies and government agencies, many of them imposed at President Biden’s behest, seem to be working—without vaccine-refusenik workers quitting en masse, as threatened. Susan B. Glasser, The New Yorker, 1 Oct. 2021 Can the host forbid entry or try to make a refusenik toe the line? Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2021 If the refusal to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge was sure to earn the Republican refusenik a potent primary challenge from the right, a denying Trump’s election lies as a gospel truth will likely lead to the same punishment. Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 7 July 2021 Natan Sharansky has been a computer scientist, a chess player, a refusenik, a dissident, a political prisoner, a party leader, a government minister, a nonprofit executive, and a bestselling author. Matthew Continetti, National Review, 28 Nov. 2020 Nor does everyone feel oppressed by celebrity; all that star-maker machinery has to get stoked with something, and for every Dylanesque refusenik in the world there are ten thousand volunteers for fame. Jonathan Dee, The New Yorker, 29 June 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for refusenik
Noun
  • Conversely, the right has capitalized on this discontent, with figures like Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan gaining massive followings by addressing male alienation head-on.
    Nafees Alam, Boston Herald, 19 May 2025
  • The country’s economic situation is also grim, with rising fuel, food and electricity prices increasingly squeezing the poor and the middle class, exacerbating public discontent.
    Zia ur-Rehman, New York Times, 16 May 2025
Noun
  • Also starring Jamie Lee Curtis, the original 2003 flick found Lohan’s character — a teenage rebel who fronts a rock band called Pink Slip — magically switching bodies with her mother.
    Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 28 May 2025
  • Bo was a rebel on a motorcycle who soon fell for the rich and spirited Hope.
    Victoria Edel, People.com, 26 May 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Refusenik.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/refusenik. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!