Meaning of Idiom ‘A Rebel without a Cause’
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A rebel without a cause is a person who is extremely dissatisfied with the norms of society in general, including the government, but who doesn’t fight for any particular cause. 1
Examples Of Use
“He’s a rebel without a cause. That basically means he complains a lot but does nothing about it.”
“James Dean was not really a rebel without a cause. He was a member of the Young Republicans!”
“Max likes to be viewed as some kind of rebel without a cause, but in reality, he’s simply concerned with his image.”
Origin
A rebel, when used as a noun, is a person who fights against a government or person in authority. A cause is an aim or a movement, such as social change, that one is committed to and prepared to fight for. So a rebel without a cause alludes to a rebellious person that has no particular aim or goal.
This idiom derives from the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause, starring James Dean, a film about emotionally distured suburban teenagers. The title of the film, in turn, was adopted from psychiatrist Robert M. Lindner’s 1944 book, Rebel Without a Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath.
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References- Ayto, John. Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.