insurgent
in-SUR-juntnounMeaning a rebel who fights against a government or those in power
Memory hook IN-SURGE: SURGE UP against the rulers. In the old story, the hill folk surge up the slope toward the cruel baron’s castle, waving their banner; each of them is an insurgent.
In the old tale, the insurgents hid in the mountains and raided the baron’s supply wagons.
In context The rebel band was small, but the insurgents knew every path through the hills, and the king’s soldiers could never catch them.
Similar rebel, revolutionary, guerrilla, mutineer
Opposite loyalist
From Latin insurgere, “to rise up”: in- (against) + surgere (to rise).