disobedience
(dɪsəʊˈbiːdɪəns)
Also 5 dys-, -aunce.
[a. OF. desobedience (in Godef.); cf. It. disubbidienza, Sp. desobediencia: a Romanic formation for L. inobēdientia, f. dis- 4 + L. obēdientia obedience.]
The fact or condition of being disobedient; the withholding of obedience; neglect or refusal to obey; violation of a command by omitting to conform to it, or of a prohibition by acting in defiance of it; an instance of this.
| ? a 1400 Arthur 230 To vnderfang oure ordynaunce; For þy dysobediaunce. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems 143 (Mätz.) For disobedience Disclaundrid is perpetually my name. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xliv. xiv, Adam..And Eve..the worlde dampned..By disobedience. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iii. i. 117, I say they norisht disobedience. 1644 Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 107 Our wilfull disobediences. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. i. (1846) I. 11 It was impossible for cowardice or disobedience to escape the severest punishment. 1875 Jowett Plato V. 412 He who obeys the law will never know the fatal consequences of disobedience. |
b. transf. Non-compliance with a law of nature, an influence, or the like.
| a 1729 Blackmore (J.), If planetary orbs the sun obey, Why should the moon disown his sovereign sway?..This disobedience of the moon, etc. |