as in rebel
a person who stirs up public feelings especially of discontent
rabble-rousers inciting hungry people in breadlines to demand social justice
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Recent Examples of rabble-rouser
Bryce Young makes the placid Brock Purdy look like a rabble-rouser at the podium.
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Jerry McDonald, Mercury News, 22 Nov. 2025
There are also rabble-rousers at the site, yelling expletives as heavily armed federal officers survey them on the sidewalk from a perch up on the roof.
—Suzette Hackney, USA Today, 17 Oct. 2025
Most of these commentators, influencers, and rabble-rousers operate outside the mainstream-media spotlight, yet their influence is vast, shaping how the next generation thinks about race, gender, government, and truth itself.
—Clara Molot, Air Mail, 20 Sep. 2025
But the hard-right caucus, typically the House rabble-rousers and thorns in Johnson’s side, are all-in on the rescissions package as vocal supporters of DOGE.
—Rachel Schilke, The Washington Examiner, 12 June 2025
The Hause Family Campfire is the traditional Friday night closer of SUH, and this year’s guitar pull featured the Hauses, Sean Bonnette of the group AJJ, Tim McIlrath from hardcore rabble-rousers Rise Against, and newcomer Jon Muq.
—Trip McClatchy, Rolling Stone, 5 May 2025
Teaming up with counterculture rabble-rouser Jerry Rubin, Lennon and Ono speak of peace and love with a naïveté that is both poignant and inspiring.
—Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2025
Every decade in fact seems to have had its own rabble-rouser whose shunning of norms have pushed the medium further and further, even if their own material was too out-there to gain a wide audience.
—Harrison Richlin, IndieWire, 28 Mar. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rabble-rouser
Noun
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The London punk rebels seized the revolutionary spirit of 1977 with their raw manifesto The Clash, then refined their sound with the flawed Give ‘Em Enough Rope.—
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Meanwhile, over in Britain, a vibrant antiwar movement brought on motion after motion in Parliament to cease fire and end all offensive operations against the rebels.—
Noun
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Pratt, who long cultivated a clownish and villainous persona, leveraged his significant social media presence following the fire to refashion himself as an earnest mix of citizen watchdog and populist firebrand.—
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Do voters want another headline-grabbing firebrand in Greene’s mold?—
Noun
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But do the hierarchy want another frank agitator in Maresca, having been sufficiently chastened by Amorim’s semi-regular public declarations?—
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For top-loading machines, never fill laundry past the agitator.—
Noun
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In turn, the erosion of trust has weakened the social contract that sustains representative government, leaving democracies more vulnerable to populist demagogues, institutional paralysis, and the gradual normalization of authoritarian alternatives.—
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Trump can be seen as a bastion of free trade for the Silicon Valley capitalists, a beacon of white Christian America to the heartland Evangelicals, and a fascist demagogue to the blood and soil nationalists.—
Noun
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Dead drummer Mickey Hart said at one point legendary concert promoter Bill Graham vented to him about the lack of catchy songs.—
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Mike Luba, promoter at Forest Hills Stadium and a member of the mayor’s inauguration committee, pitched in that maximum as well, as did the Partnership for New York City, whose leader, Kathy Wylde, has been a key ally for the mayor in the business community.—
Noun
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But proponents of the industry claim that the environmental costs still net out as a plus since the space data centers take processing off the fossil-fuel-burning grid.—
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One of the biggest proponents of the capri resurgence, the supermodel has been making a stylish case for cropped pants since last summer—and her latest iteration takes the divisive Noughties silhouette into Italian girl style territory.—
Noun
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At worst, the government has invited in a provocateur who will continue to spread poison and incite violence.—
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This same climate, however, allowed for vicious attacks on a provocateur from their side who had just been killed in cold blood.—
Noun
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Cries for regime change in Iran echoed through San Francisco on Sunday afternoon as more than a thousand Iranian-Americans and supporters gathered in front of the Ferry Building to show solidarity with protesters overseas.—
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But supporters say the expansion would address escalating instances of campus violence, including the assassination in Utah of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.—
Cite this Entry
“Rabble-rouser.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rabble-rouser. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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