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seditious

UK/səˈdɪʃəs/US/səˈdɪʃəs/
adjectiveC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,346 of 15,258leans written

Seditious means stirring people up against the government. A seditious pamphlet, seditious libel, seditious speech.

The charge has always been the state's favourite tool against critics, and seditious libel was abolished in Britain in 2009 as an affront to free speech. It survives as a live offence in many countries.

Definitions of seditious

  1. 1adjectiveseditiousStirring people up against the government.C2

    “The writer was jailed for publishing seditious poems that called for revolution.”

seditious is a quality.

Remember it

sedITIOUS → words that sound vICIOUS to the throne

To the king every word of it sounds vicious, aimed straight at his throne.

hooks ontovicious

Where it comes from

Latin seditiosus comes from seditio, a going apart, from se-, aside, plus ire, to go.

  1. Latin

    seditiosus

  2. Middle French

    séditieux

  3. English, today

    seditious

From Middle French séditieux, from Latin seditiosus.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

seditious in the wild

  • The essential ingredient of any offence under the Act was the finding of a "seditious tendency", and the intention of the offender is irrelevant.

    Sedition Act (Singapore)

  • The Act also listed several examples of what is not a seditious tendency, and provides defences for accused persons in a limited number of situations.

    Sedition Act (Singapore)

  • The Sedition Act 1948 in Malaysia is a law prohibiting discourse deemed as seditious.

    Sedition Act 1948

  • Along with three other Proud Boys leaders, Tarrio was convicted in May 2023 of seditious conspiracy for his role in the 2021 United States Capitol attack.

    Enrique Tarrio

  • For the last of these, in 2023, he was found guilty on six criminal counts (including seditious conspiracy), and sentenced to 17 years in federal prison.

    Joe Biggs

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.