bandit

noun

ban·​dit ˈban-dət 

plural bandits

1

plural also banditti ban-ˈdi-tē  : an outlaw who lives by plunder

especially : a member of a band of marauders

2

: robber

3

: an enemy plane

banditry

ˈban-də-trē 

noun

Examples of bandit in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But a decade ago, rooftop bandits breached a series of banks in strip malls across the San Gabriel Valley. —Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 4 Apr. 2024

Suspected seafaring bandits terrorizing San Francisco Bay residents are now landlocked in jail cells. —Chris Eberhart, Fox News, 2 Apr. 2024

They were abducted by armed bandits on motorcycles who demanded a ransom and threatened to kill the children. —Andrew Torgan, CNN, 24 Mar. 2024

Waiting to attack are one thousand heavily armed bandits, disgruntled ex-soldiers led by a charismatic 25-year-old rebel who is dead-set on freeing his province from the yoke of a brutal warlord. —Patrick Brzeski, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Mar. 2024

Citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants and bandits after nuclear annihilation. —Anna Tingley, Variety, 10 Apr. 2024

Most of the groups, referred to locally as bandits, are behind an epidemic of mass kidnap-for-ransom attacks that have proliferated across Africa's most populous country, rising during one of the toughest economic periods in decades. —Emmanuel Akinwotu, NPR, 9 Apr. 2024

There’s also a Western he’s been trying to shoot, about bandits who terrorize a small town under the cover of a thunderstorm, and a doctor and sheriff who go out for revenge. —Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, 8 Apr. 2024

More than 300 students were taken early Thursday morning by armed bandits on motorcycles who stormed the LEA Primary and Secondary School in Kuriga village, in Kaduna’s Chikun district, the state’s police spokesman Mansur Hassan told CNN on Friday. —Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 13 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Italian bandito (earlier in English also bandetto, probably by association with the Italian diminutive suffix -etto), noun derivative of bandito "put under a ban, outlawed, exiled," from past participle of bandire "(of a government or other authority) to announce, proclaim, proscribe, outlaw," probably borrowed (directly or via Old Occitan bandir) from Gothic bandwjan "to give a sign, show, reveal," derivative of bandwo "sign, signal" — more at band entry 3

Note: See also note at banderole.

First Known Use

1611, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing bandit

• make out like a bandit
• one-arm bandit
• one-armed bandit

Kids Definition

bandit

noun

ban·​dit ˈban-dət 

plural bandits also banditti ban-ˈdit-ē 

: a person who lives by stealing and often as a member of a band : robber, outlaw

banditry

ˈban-də-trē 

noun

Etymology

from Italian bandito, literally, "one who is banished"