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
  • In The Death of Robin Hood, Hugh Jackman plays the bandit of Nottingham, aged and retired to a hermit's life in the wilderness.
    — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The father pulls over, and the car is immediately swarmed over by bandits, who brutally kill him — plus his wife and two kids — with no mercy.
    — Damon Wise, Deadline, 12 Oct. 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
  • Wild to me though that something that expensive would just be dropped off with porch pirates out there.
    — Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Jamal convened a press conference proclaiming to be able to communicate by phone with Somali pirates who were holding a Nigerian ship hostage.
    — Mia Cathell, The Washington Examiner, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of pirate
Noun
  • This can help prevent criminals from opening new credit accounts using your information.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026
  • Ford placed the inmate’s bid for clemency on the agenda of the state pardons board — an example, Lombardo claims, of the way Ford treats criminals.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of criminal
Noun
  • Jason Statham is back in action as former government assassin Adam Clay in the buzzy trailer for The Beekeeper 2, which Amazon MGM Studios dropped on Thursday.
    — Etan Vlessing, HollywoodReporter, 15 Oct. 2026
  • The alleged plot targeting Pannun unfolded at the same time that Hardeep Singh Nijjar, another prominent Sikh separatist and friend of Pannun, was gunned down and killed in June 2023 by assassins outside his gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia.
    — Sarah N. Lynch, CBS News, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of assassin
Noun
  • The bans at the center of the consolidated case outlaw the purchase of AR-15 and similar semiautomatic rifles, with the justices set to rule on whether those bans violate the Second or 14th amendments.
    — Jack Birle, The Washington Examiner, 23 Oct. 2026
  • On the other was the outlaw gang known as the Cowboys, led by Ike and Billy Clanton.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of outlaw
Noun
  • His lacerating wit spares no member of his staff—a mix of true incompetents, off-putting savants, ticking time bombs, and onetime offenders prematurely consigned to professional purgatory.
    — Inkoo Kang, New Yorker, 22 Oct. 2026
  • Penalties increase if offenders cover their faces or someone is injured.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of offender
Noun
  • Salceda was charged with one count of murder and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon.
    — Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 22 Oct. 2026
  • He was charged with first-degree murder with an enhancement of personal use of a firearm, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
    — Carlos E. Castañeda, CBS News, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of felon

Browse Nearby Words

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brigand
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Cite this Entry

“Brigand.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brigand. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

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