Synonyms of defiance

defiance

noun

di-ˈfī-ən(t)s 

1

as in rebellion

refusal to obey

any defiance of the authoritarian regime would have dire consequences

Synonyms & Similar Words

• rebellion
• willfulness
• rebelliousness
• disrespect
• contrariness
• disobedience
• insubordination
• recalcitrance
• contumacy
• rudeness
• waywardness
• unruliness
• intractability
• stubbornness
• refractoriness
• frowardness
• balkiness
• noncooperation
• obstreperousness
• civil disobedience
• obstinacy
• insolence
• tenacity
• perversity
• impudence
• obduracy
• inconsiderateness
• pigheadedness
• inconsideration
• peevishness
• doggedness
• pertinacity
• impoliteness
• self-will
• mischievousness
• naughtiness
• tenaciousness
• ungraciousness
• impertinence
• discourteousness
• hardheadedness
• obdurateness
• knavery
• obstinateness
• mulishness
• pertinaciousness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• compliance
• obedience
• subordination
• submission
• tractability
• subservience
• amiability
• agreeability
• submissiveness
• amenability
• subserviency
• slavishness
• deference
• tractableness
• subordinateness
• docility
• trainability
• dutifulness

2

as in opposition

the inclination to resist

the troubled youth seems to have an ingrained defiance to authority of any sort

Synonyms & Similar Words

• opposition
• resistance
• objection
• protest
• remonstrance
• disobedience
• noncompliance
• demur
• compunction
• reservation
• recalcitrance
• misgiving

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• compliance
• acquiescence
• approval
• acceptance
• obedience

3

as in aggression

an inclination to fight or quarrel

a deeply troubled person who seemed the very soul of defiance

Synonyms & Similar Words

• aggression
• aggressiveness
• hostility
• belligerence
• fight
• pugnacity
• militance
• belligerency
• bellicosity
• militancy
• assaultiveness
• combativeness
• feistiness
• truculence
• contentiousness
• scrappiness
• quarrelsomeness
• disputatiousness
• fierceness
• antagonism
• chip on one's shoulder
• irritability
• unfriendliness
• militantness
• irritableness
• imperialism
• petulance
• militarism
• jingoism
• rudeness
• peevishness
• fractiousness
• crossness
• hyperaggressiveness
• surliness
• disagreeableness
• orneriness
• testiness
• irascibility
• querulousness
• fretfulness
• crankiness
• grumpiness
• grouchiness
• captiousness
• huffiness
• pettishness
• waspishness
• biliousness
• acidity
• irascibleness

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• pacifism
• nonaggression
• benevolence
• friendliness
• gentleness
• sociability
• cordiality
• graciousness
• geniality
• antimilitarism
• amiability
• affability
• pleasantness
• mildness
• kindliness
• antiaggression
• complaisance
• anti-imperialism
• amicability
• amenability
• placability

Examples of defiance in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The rocket lifted away slowly, as though in contemptuous defiance of physics. —David W. Brown, The New Yorker, 15 Oct. 2024

The defiance was already in evidence in an earlier, even more horrifying scene during an audition in which Terry is ordered to do the choreography that led to her onstage injury. —Mark Peikert, IndieWire, 28 Sep. 2024

The defiance heightened tensions in the civil rights movement. —Lorenzino Estrada, The Arizona Republic, 21 Sep. 2024

That’s why the punishment for Haiti’s defiance has been severe and long-lasting. —Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús / Made By History, TIME, 4 Oct. 2024

Phrases Containing defiance

• in defiance of