I've only really read about the terminology at the very start, so I hope someone who has read further on the subject can build from this.

When King George III addressed Parliament on October 27, 1775, he referred to "The present situation of America" as "their [American's] revolt, hostility and rebellion." He spoke of "a desperate conspiracy" rather than a revolution and refers to it as "The rebellious war."

King George and Parliament saw the War for Independence as a kind of change in leadership rather than a political revolution. He calls the American leadership a "usurpation" rather than a revolution. He wasn't addressing a political revolution whereby a new breed of democracy was put into place, but rather a small group of elites hijacking the institutions that Britain had already put into place.

TL;DR - The British preferred terms like "rebellion", "revolt", and "insurrection" to "revolution."

Source:

• King George's speech; October 27, 1775

As near as I am able to tell it was by and large called "the Rebellion" at least in political circles. On November 20^th 1777, King George III delivered a speech in parliament where he was quoted as saying "the continuance of the Rebellion in North America" in which he expressed that he wished for a quick return to the fold of his "deluded subjects" and hoped for peace and reconciliation.^1

Similarly and earlier on April 19^th 1777 the "Justices of Peace, Freeholders, and Commissioners of Supply of the County of Dumfries" published a letter to King George III in which they wrote to congratulate the King on the success of his solders in "suppressing the unnatural Rebellion of your deluded subjects in America".^2

However I would also caution that these were the "official" party line, and not what your average citizen might call it. I've also found references to an "insurrection"^3, the "Revolt of America"^4, and "the revolted colonies"^5, among others.

The conclusion I have drawn from this is that while it was politically known as either "the rebellion" or "the Rebellion in America" or some variation thereof, there was no one particular phrase used to describe it.

I'd also like to apologize for my singular lack of multiple sources. All of my citations come from the same newspaper, as it is the only one with records dating back to the 18th century that I am able to access.

1. London Gazette, Issue 11824

2. London Gazette, Issue 11762

3. London Gazette, Issue 12098

4. London Gazette, Issue 11843

5. London Gazette, Issue 12297

Hello! This is a rather interesting question and there are different answers to this as the war was called different things by the British Soldiers.

First I will be looking at the [The memoir and letters of Captain W. Glanville Evelyn of the "King's Own"] (https://archive.org/stream/memoirlettersofc00eveluoft/memoirlettersofc00eveluoft_djvu.txt)

In his letters he primarily refers to the war as two different things actually. He refers to it mostly as one of three things, just "the war," "The American War," or a "Civil War."

"Admiral George Montague, as post-captain, April 15, 1773, was employed at the commencement of the American war, in blockading the parts of Salem and Marblehead."

Here is one of the mentions of calling it just The American War.

Actually, in his letters Civil War mentions the most of the three. For example,

but were we to judge from the spirit and proceedings of the people here, we should conclude that a civil war must inevitably happen in the course of a few months, or that Great Britain must for ever give up America.

Secondly,

" in short, the frenzy with which the people are seized is now got to such a pitch, that it can go but little farther, and they must either soon, very soon, break out into civil war, or take that turn which the people of England did at the time of the Restoration "

And lastly,

"it must strongly mark the different characters of the two nations, as well as of the individuals who are the actors in this civil war."

In addition to these mentions there are several mentions of just "the War"

As a second source in the "Journals of Lieutenant-colonel Stephen Kemble," this shows just plainly, "the war," through the entire course of the letters there are no mentions of it being a revolution, civil war, a war of independence.

These two accounts from soldiers show that in this time period that there were many different ways in which the war was called by the British, but in general the accounts show that the word "revolution" is not thrown around.

Hope this answers it :)

As a secondary question, what was the public opinion of the American Revolution? Were they not concerned with it or was it everyday talking point?

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