Recusant

/ˈɹɛkjʊzənt/ · noun

Meaning

(historical) Someone refusing to attend Church of England services, between the 16th and early 19th centuries, whether a Protestant dissident or a Roman Catholic..

Definitions by Sense

1. (historical) Someone refusing to attend Church of England services, between the 16th and early 19th centuries, whether a Protestant dissident or a Roman Catholic.
2. Anyone refusing to submit to authority or regulation.
3. Pertaining to a recusant or to recusancy.

Example Sentences

Near-synonyms: (all sometimes synonymous) Dissenter, Nonconformist, free churchman; autem cackler (archaic cant)

Near-synonyms: refuser, defier, dissenter, objector, protester, iconoclast, maverick, nonconformist, rebel, refusenik, renegade

[…] to set forth the commission to avenge his father’s death laid upon him by Apollo, together with the warning of the god that if he prove recusant to his duty of vengeance, the Furies of his father will blast his mind and waste his body.

Still, to disobey a direct order in the field is no small matter in any circumstances, and especially in Sparta. The recusant captains must have known how dangerous their defiance was to them, yet they risked it.

Synonyms for recusant

Antonyms for recusant

Related Words

Word Forms

• recusants

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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