dissident

adj

1. In a manner that disagrees; dissenting; discordant.

   “Near-synonym: dissonant”

   “On flattening either the higher or lower reed separately, by partially pushing in either one of the pulls, dissident beats instantly arose, which would be made to disappear by partially pushing in the other reed.”

   “The US State Department has removed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by the acronym the FARC, from its terrorism blacklist, and listed two dissident groups led by former FARC militants.”

2. (Northern-Ireland)Continuing violent actions despite a ceasefire (especially the Good Friday Agreement).

   “This tragic event, coupled with a police operation on the Drumcree site July 15-17, 1998 - which revealed a small cache of explosives and arms and resulted in arrests of dissident loyalists effectively ended the standoff.”

   “Of the 'dissident' groups which have emerged, the most important has been the RIRA [Real IRA]. While vulnerable to splits, it has contained the deadliest capacity.”

   “The post-conflict era in Northern Ireland has been characterized by fluctuating levels of support for dissident republicanism and their “prolonged campaign””

noun

1. A person who formally opposes the current political structure, the political group in power, the policies of the political group in power, or current laws.

   “I once more find myself a dissident, and a dissident in a very small minority.”

   “It is largely the story of a man who fell from being a potential leader of the Soviet Communist Party in the early 1960s to being an outcast by the mid-1970s – a dissident in the eyes of officialdom, a "half-dissident" in his own eyes.”

   “Before [Martyn] Frampton published his book Legion of the Rearguard, an exhaustive examination of the dissidents, he highlighted sections of it released in a report by the International Center for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King's College, London, entitled "The Return of the Militants."”

   “Other prominent Chinese dissidents and activists on the platform reported a plunge in follower counts, too. The panic also spread to YouTube, an important source of income for many exiled dissidents, including Li.”

2. (Northern-Ireland)A member of a paramilitary that has continued actions after the Good Friday Agreement or other ceasefire.
3. One who disagrees or dissents; one who separates from the established religion.
4. (historical, specifically)One who disagrees or dissents; one who separates from the established religion.

   “From Warſaw, May 25. That the Dyet of Convocation had held its laſt Seſſion on the 22d, and then agreed to and ſign'd a general Confederacy in good Order, having firſt Sworn not to Elect a Foreigner as above. The Day of Election was fixt for the 25th of Aug. But a Proteſt was enter'd by the Diſſidents, who had been excluded.”

   “The Article which enjoins Peace among the Diſſidents was ſigned by all the Catholics then present, and ſo are alſo the continual Repetitions of it in all the Pacta Conventa, and in the ſame Terms, to the Death of the late King; whereas the Confederacies of 1717 and 1733 are not signed by the Diſſidents, who were expelled from thence by Force.”

   “Theſe Pieces are introduced by a very ſenſible preface, explaining the hardſhips and injuſtice which have been inflicted upon the Diſſidents of Poland. We there ſee that the Diſſidents (by whom are meant the proteſtants and the Greeks) had their privileges eſtablished by the fundamental laws paſſed in 1572; and that theſe rights were confirmed by the treaty of Oliva in 1660, which was guarantied by the principal powers of Europe.”

   “A Socinian was a Dissident, and a member of the Greek Church was a Dissident; and these Dissidents agreed to act together. Even a liberal Romanist might be called a Dissident.”

   “The rest, about half a million Russian Orthodox and about the same number of Protestants, were known as ‘dissidents’; the huge Jewish community defied classification.”