noun
insurrection
in-suh-REK-shun/ˌɪnsəˈrekʃn/
A violent uprising against a government or established authority.
The crowd forces the government’s gates during the insurrection.
Etymology
Insurrection names the action of rising up, an image that became an uprising against civil authority. In the underlying verb, the prefix means “against” or perhaps merely strengthens the idea of rising.
In context
when Pol Pot’s insurgents attacked an army base at Bay Damran south of Battambang, the regional capital of northwest Cambodia, Sihanouk’s initial reaction to this limited insurrection backfired, he ordered a violent crackdown
More examples
- The army is ordered to suppress the insurrection.
- Historians debate the causes of the failed insurrection.
- The movement turns from protest to armed insurrection.
Forms
insurrection · insurrections
insurgent noun — a person rising against established authority
Similar words
- rebellion
- Rebellion broadly resists authority; insurrection especially suggests an organized, forceful uprising.
- uprising
- Uprising is a general revolt; insurrection particularly concerns forceful resistance to established authority.