brigand

noun

Definition of brigandnext
as in bandit
formal + old-fashioned a person who commits robbery usually as part of a group

Related Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of brigand Their captors beset by these foreign brigands, Larys and Aegon manage to escape. — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026 That’s the state Supergirl is in when she is dragged into a local dispute on some far-off planet, defending the honor of an orphaned teenage girl, Ruthye (Eve Ridley); her parents were murdered by a brigand named Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts). — David Sims, The Atlantic, 26 June 2026 The French-language film begins in Spain circa 1845, when Antonio, the blind knife-sharpener, returns to Seville to the great delight of local brigands and soldiers, whose blades have grown dull in his absence. — David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 21 May 2026 Their stories live on in Sardinian lore with an almost mythical quality, the brigands admired for their intractability. — IEEE Spectrum, 7 May 2026 Then rumors started spreading about armed brigands that would come to town to steal what little harvest folks had left, so towns raised militias to fight back. — Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 24 Sep. 2025 Captured by brigands, the immigrants are herded into a remote Libyan prison camp where they are tormented and tortured. — Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Feb. 2024 Saúl is a brigand while Isabella is a noblewoman, and the tale tells of the couple’s struggle as their families oppose their union. — Rebecca Ann Hughes, Forbes, 10 Aug. 2022 Looking eastward, the notion that Iran, which took hundreds of thousands of casualties in repelling an Iraqi juggernaut in the 1980s, is going to melt in terror in the face of several thousand ISIS brigands is absurd. — Steven Simon, Foreign Affairs, 26 Aug. 2014
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brigand
  1. bandit
  2. highwayman
  3. pirate
  4. criminal
  5. assassin
  6. outlaw
  7. offender
  8. felon
Noun
  • People in northwest Nigeria are caught between regular attacks by bandit groups who specialize in kidnapping for ransom and Islamist militants who have been expanding their territory.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 19 July 2026
  • Instead, most are romantic stories about young lovers separated by fate, and the rest are swashbuckling adventures full of bandits and pirates.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 June 2026
Definition of bandit
Noun
  • Shortly before midnight on May 23, 1798, highwaymen just north of Dublin intercepted and set on fire a mail coach headed to Belfast.
    — Joseph Patrick Kelly, The Conversation, 20 May 2025
  • Dee is in his Springheel Jack costume, since London bobbies of that era would rather work with a mythical highwayman than a real Chinese man.
    — Yvonne Zipp, Christian Science Monitor, 1 Apr. 2025
Definition of highwayman
Noun
  • After all, what are the pirate-ship kitchens Bourdain recounts early in Kitchen Confidential if not a more dangerous, adult version of the juvenile hijinks that have always fascinated Johnson?
    — Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 29 July 2026
  • One, a delight for the kitchen — the pressure, the camaraderie, the artist's heart, the pirate's adoration of heat and knives — and, another, hard drugs.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 29 July 2026
Definition of pirate
Noun
  • The detective-heroines (and especially the actress-detectives) in this canon are careful about how performance might be extended to social duplicity, dishonesty, and fraud—but the lady criminals of Victorian detective fiction cross this line easily.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 24 July 2026
  • From 1873 to 1991, the island served as Costa Rica’s principal penitentiary, where some of the country’s worst criminals were sent to serve often short and torturous sentences.
    — Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 24 July 2026
Definition of criminal
Noun
  • By the time Cameron came up with the idea for The Terminator — about a robot assassin sent back in time to kill the mother of humanity’s unborn savior — Wisher was growing more interested in screenwriting.
    — Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 21 July 2026
  • Their characters — a notorious assassin and a lawyer — race across Europe, balancing brutal fights and a messy, decades-long friendship.
    — Emily Zemler, Los Angeles Times, 16 July 2026
Definition of assassin
Noun
  • About 25 miles north on I-35 from downtown Kansas City sits Kearney, Missouri, hometown to that famous outlaw Jesse James.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 21 July 2026
  • Adcock has become one of the fastest rising stars in the country music genre due to his blend of party vibes and outlaw style.
    — David Hookstead OutKick, FOXNews.com, 17 July 2026
Definition of outlaw
Noun
  • Because of his previous felonies, though none for violent crimes, Pfister could now be defined as a habitual offender under Michigan law and faces prison.
    — Kyung Lah, CNN Money, 25 July 2026
  • That’s like staying in the dugout during a bench-clearing brawl after a pitcher plonks a batter, then offering the offender a handshake the next inning.
    — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 23 July 2026
Definition of offender
Noun
  • Navarrette was held without bail on charges of murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove.
    — Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 29 July 2026
  • Taron Ford, 41, was charged with possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, methamphetamine, psilocybin, and marijuana, as well as possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and being a felon in possession of firearms.
    — Nathan Pilling July 27, Kansas City Star, 27 July 2026
Definition of felon

Browse Nearby Words

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Cite this Entry

“Brigand.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brigand. Accessed 3 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of brigand for Spanish Speakers

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