as in dissenting
deviating from commonly accepted beliefs or practices
dissident elements within the Catholic Church
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in dissenter
a person who believes, teaches, or advocates something opposed to accepted beliefs
the conference drew political dissidents of every ilk
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of dissident
Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Oct. 2025
This is the second year running that a European country has nominated a film from an Iranian dissident director for the Academy Awards.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 10 Oct. 2025
Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
But many dissidents felt profoundly ambivalent toward a society that, despite having become better educated and more urbanized, was also more dependent than ever on the state.
—Benjamin Nathans
september 24, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dissident
Adjective
Tucker Carlson, the one-time cable news king now moonlighting as a dissident podcaster, has evinced an unhealthy obsession with the Jewish people and the state of Israel.
—Josh Hammer, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Oct. 2025
This is the second year running that a European country has nominated a film from an Iranian dissident director for the Academy Awards.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 10 Oct. 2025
Noun
There are streets and parks named for Cuban heroes—from Máximo Gómez, an anti-colonial fighter of the nineteenth century, to Osvaldo Payá, a Christian dissident who died in a suspicious car crash in 2012.
—Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 29 Sep. 2025
But many dissidents felt profoundly ambivalent toward a society that, despite having become better educated and more urbanized, was also more dependent than ever on the state.
—Benjamin Nathans
september 24, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for dissident
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dissident
Adjective
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Board member Renee Paschall cast the lone dissenting vote on the final package.—
Elizabeth Sander,
San Antonio Express-News,
19 Aug. 2022
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The document runs to more than a hundred and fifty pages, and for each question there are affirmative and dissenting studies, as well as some that indicate mixed results.—
The New Yorker,
The New Yorker,
3 June 2022
Noun
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What’s safe for Jews was itself a matter of disagreement among the bill’s backers and dissenters.—
CalMatters,
Mercury News,
14 Oct. 2025
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Jerusalem — On a hot Friday morning in September, dozens of Israelis turned up at Gaza’s border fence – not as soldiers, but as dissenters.—
Zeena Saifi,
CNN Money,
5 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The combination of a conservative politician with a rock-and-roll past — Japan’s first female prime minister behind a drum kit and once on a bike — has helped shape her public image as both disciplined and unconventional.—
Efrat Lachter,
FOXNews.com,
27 Oct. 2025
-
OpenAI has unconventional roots.—
Nikita Ostrovsky,
Time,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Paso Robles is independent, even a bit renegade.—
Justin Goldman,
AFAR Media,
24 Oct. 2025
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For years, Hollywood content creators have warned about piracy, whether through bootleg VHS tapes, or BitTorrent, or renegade streaming providers.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
9 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The design was by aviation legend Burt Rutan, known for his bold and often maverick creations.—
Jacopo Prisco,
CNN,
27 Jan. 2023
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Sinema has modeled her political approach on the maverick style of the late Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who alienated the grassroots of his party by sometimes crossing the aisle to work with Democrats.—
Time,
Time,
23 Jan. 2023
Adjective
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Diane Keaton, the iconoclastic and left-of-center Oscar-winning film and fashion icon, has died, according to a family spokesperson who shared the news with People magazine.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
11 Oct. 2025
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The prolific and iconoclastic filmmaker — who was previously a successful French electronic musician and record producer — is known for his absurdist and quirky sense of humor, as well as his boldness that stands out in the French cinema landscape.—
Elsa Keslassy,
Variety,
6 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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In Charlton’s world, this was serious, almost heretical, praise.—
Michael Walker,
New York Times,
11 Oct. 2025
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These statements were heretical in Athens, where Anaxagoras lived.—
Manon Bischoff,
Scientific American,
20 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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In reality, the invasion followed years of rising tensions after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and its support for separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.—
Gabe Whisnant,
MSNBC Newsweek,
20 Oct. 2025
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Most of Pakistan’s rare earths are thought to be in Balochistan province, which has been rocked for years by a separatist insurgency that seeks greater political autonomy and economic development in the strategically important and mineral-rich region.—
Sophia Saifi,
CNN Money,
18 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dissident.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dissident. Accessed 30 Oct. 2025.
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