Rebellion | Vocabulary
About this video
Rebellion is a noun meaning war or pushback against a government or authority, like the American Revolutionary War, which began as a rebellion against the British Crown. It comes from the Latin prefix re (again, against, back) and the root bel, from bellum (war). Related words include belligerent and rebel, which is stressed differently as a noun (REB-el) and a verb (re-BEL).
You'll be able to
- explain what rebellion means and tell it apart from a war between two countries.
- explain how the word parts re (against, back) and bel (war) build the meaning.
- use related words such as belligerent and rebel correctly.
- say rebel differently as a noun and as a verb.
Key words
- rebellion
- A noun meaning war or pushback against a government or authority.
- bel / bellum
- A Latin root meaning war.
- re-
- A prefix meaning again, against, or back.
- belligerent
- An adjective meaning hostile or warlike; a belligerent person starts lots of fights.
- rebel
- As a noun (REB-el), a person who fights back; as a verb (re-BEL), to fight back against authority.
- tyrannical
- Ruling in a cruel, unfair way.
Transcript
- [Presenter] Sound the drums of war, wordsmiths, because today I teach you about rebellion. Man, I'm a great influence. Rebellion. It's a noun. It means war or pushback against a government or an authority, right? The American Revolutionary War began as a rebellion against the British Crown.
Now, this word has Latin origins. The root bel comes from the Latin bellum, meaning war, and the prefix re means again, against, or back. So rebels stand up and maybe go to war against something, right? They're seeking change. So two countries going to war with each other is not a rebellion, but in uprising within a country, protesting a tyrannical ruler, that's a rebellion.
So re and bel, those are our word parts I wanna focus on today. I'm gonna put on some music for about 10 seconds, and while I do that, come up with as many words as you can that contain those elements. Okay Let's go. (upbeat music) Okay, here are three that I came up with. Remake.
Like there's an old movie and you're making a new version of it, right? You're making it again. Remake. Belligerent. One of my favorite adjectives. It means hostile or warlike. A belligerent person starts a lot of arguments, a lot of fights. And this last one, rebel, right?
Also contained within rebellion. This word can be a noun or a verb. I wanted to flag it because pronunciations are different depending on how you use it. When it's a person, they're a rebel. But the thing that a rebel does is rebel, fights back. The emphasis changes from the first syllable to the second.
First syllable. Second syllable. The nouns verbed. The rebels rebelled in their rebellion. Let's use rebellion in a sentence or two. To the mind of a dictator, something as innocent as a sidewalk chalk drawing could be seen as an act of rebellion. So it's seen as an act of war or of open resistance to the dictator.
Look at a mouth open. He looks so scandalized by little house. Marta rebelled quietly. She pulled doors marked push. She rode her bike through the drive-through. She microwaved fish in the office. I feel like I'm contributing to kind of an anti-fish narrative here, and that's unfair.
I microwave fish in the Khan Academy lunchroom, whatever. I'm not too proud to admit it. Does that make me a hero? Maybe. Does it make me a rebel? Oh, you betcha. Now, if you excuse me, your boy's got a serving of tuna casserole in the refrigerator, and I can't eat it cold, if you know what I mean.
So you can learn anything. Dig it out. (microwave door opens) (microwave beeps) (microwave door opens) (presenter laughs)
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