Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who rejects a religion, cause, allegiance, or group for another; a deserter.
  • noun An outlaw; a rebel.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or resembling a renegade; traitorous.
  • intransitive verb To become a deserter or an outlaw.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An apostate from a religious faith.
  • noun One who deserts to an enemy; one who deserts his party and joins another; a deserter.
  • noun Synonyms Neophyte, Proselyte., etc. (see convert), backslider, turncoat.
  • noun Traitor, runaway.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An apostate from Christianity or from any form of religious faith.
  • noun One who deserts from a military or naval post; a deserter.
  • noun A common vagabond; a worthless or wicked fellow.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An outlaw or rebel.
  • noun A disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause, religion, political party, friend, etc.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having deserted a cause or principle
  • noun a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc.
  • verb break with established customs
  • noun someone who rebels and becomes an outlaw

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish renegado, from Medieval Latin renegātus, past participle of renegāre, to deny : Latin re-, re- + Latin negāre, to deny; see ne in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish renegado, from Medieval Latin renegatus, perfect participle of renego ("deny"). See also renege.

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Examples

  • While the upsurge could be temporary -- coinciding with efforts by Iraqi-government officials to crack down on what they call renegade militias -- it could also represent a new threat to fragile security gains made recently by U.S. forces.

    Iraqi Forces Battle Shiite Militias 2008

  • I quickly learned that Cooper, more than a "renegade," is something of an outlaw genius when it comes to making the most out of a school meals budget.

    Maria Rodale: A National Look at School Lunches, Part 2 Maria Rodale 2010

  • Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, president of Mexico between 1872-76, began his career as a radical renegade from the priesthood and ended it as a liberal elitist whose strongest backing came from the professional classes and the wealthy but who lacked a wide base of popular support.

    Lerdo de Tejada: Jacobin to liberal elitist 2008

  • Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, president of Mexico between 1872-76, began his career as a radical renegade from the priesthood and ended it as a liberal elitist whose strongest backing came from the professional classes and the wealthy but who lacked a wide base of popular support.

    Lerdo de Tejada: Jacobin to liberal elitist 2008

  • Democracy is something we ourselves have less and less of, as a result of our present long term renegade militarism wildly and desperately enforcing a grandiose world-wide commercial imperialism which finds itself on the wane, but continuingly hailed on our conglomerate corporate network TV.

    Imprison Us Too! Abuse Us Without Charge Too! Let Us Expiate! Be Normal! 2007

  • That this Du Pin had, while there, made the acquaintance of a certain Greek renegade, having, as a matter of fact, stayed in the house of this renegade.

    Satyricon 2007

  • Quite probably, Croetine was stunned-she never described her initial reaction-but a couple of years later, under fire from Rome and having changed her name to Masked Beauty, she called her renegade sisters, one by one, into her quarters, read to them the cardinal's account of how he came to obtain Mary's prophecy, and then let each nun read the message for herself.

    Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates Robbins, Tom 2000

  • Quite probably, Croetine was stunned-she never described her initial reaction-but a couple of years later, under fire from Rome and having changed her name to Masked Beauty, she called her renegade sisters, one by one, into her quarters, read to them the cardinal's account of how he came to obtain Mary's prophecy, and then let each nun read the message for herself.

    Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates Robbins, Tom 2000

  • The word renegade describes him aptly, I think: he was born and bred a Brahmin,

    The Bronze Bell Louis Joseph Vance 1906

  • It is probable that when the reader discovers who "Belle Boyd" and Mr. Hardinge were -- that the former, had it not been for her sex, would undoubtedly have been hanged early in the war as a spy, and that the latter was a renegade from the Federal cause -- he will consider they were treated not too harshly by the authorities, whom it would be absurd to hold responsible for occasional vulgar brutality on the part of underlings.

    Current Literature 1865

Comments

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  • Barack Obama's Secret Service code name...

    November 15, 2008

  • I read an interesting use of this in Don Quixote the other day, of a galley slave that had turned Muslim and become a shipmaster. Turns out we get this word from the Spanish renegado, and that Cervantes's use was the original one - a Christian who had denied the faith and turned Muslim. The Latin root is renego, to deny -- as in renege.

    May 30, 2009

  • A really sucky NES beat-em-up.

    July 10, 2009

  • rene-gade

    March 23, 2011