rivoltoso

Rivoltoso is an Italian adjective used to describe someone or something that tends to provoke or participate in revolt. It conveys a sense of rebelliousness or insubordination and can apply to people, groups, movements, or attitudes that challenge authority or disrupt established order. The term often carries a descriptive rather than a normative judgement and is common in literary or historical contexts.

Its etymology traces to rivolta, meaning revolt or uprising, combined with the suffix -oso, which marks a quality or tendency. Thus rivoltoso literally denotes "given to revolt" or "prone to revolting." The nuance is typically slightly pejorative or critical, but in some contexts it can be neutral or even sympathetic when discussing a historical movement.

Typical collocations include una folla rivoltosa, un movimento rivoltoso, comportamento rivoltoso, or atteggiamenti rivoltosi. As a noun, rivoltoso is rarer but can refer to a person who engages in uprisings—though more common synonyms are ribelle, insorgente, or sovversivo, depending on context. The term is more frequent in formal, historical, or critical prose than in casual conversation.