insurrection

Definition

The action of part or all of a national population violently rising up against the government or other authority; (countable) an instance of this; a revolt, an uprising; specifically, one that is at an initial stage or limited in nature.

Etymology

From Late Middle English insurreccion (“uprising against a government, rebellion, revolt; civil disorder, riot; illegal armed assault”) [and other forms], from Middle French insurrection, Old French insurreccïon (modern French insurrection), and from their etymon Latin īnsurrēctiōnem (rare), the accusative singular of īnsurrēctiō (“rising up, insurrection, rebellion”), from īnsurgō (“to rise up”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + surgō (“to arise, get up; to rise”) (from sub- (prefix meaning ‘(from) beneath, under’) + regō (“to direct, govern, rule; to guide, steer; to manage, oversee”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to right oneself, straighten; just; right”))).

Example Sentences

• "No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. (1866, Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Section 3)"
• "After this, by the great wiſedome and politic of the Nobles and Captaynes, a communication was had, and an agreement made vppon the Kings pardon, obtayned for all the Captaynes and chiefe doers in this inſurrection, and promiſe made that they ſhoulde bee gentlye heard, to declare ſuch things as they found themſelues agreeued with, […]"
• "And therefore if God afterward gave, or permitted this inſurrection of Epiſcopacy, it is to be fear'd he did it in his wrath, as he gave the Iſraelites a King."