Synonyms of defendants

defendants

noun

plural of defendant

as in offenders

a person who is being sued or accused of a crime in a court of law

The jury believed that the defendant was guilty.

Related Words

• offenders
• criminals
• suspects
• accused
• perpetrators
• culprits
• convicts
• arrestees
• detainees
• accomplices
• principals
• fish
• lawbreakers
• misdemeanants
• crooks
• malefactors
• miscreants
• outlaws
• desperadoes
• jailbirds
• villains
• wrongdoers
• trespassers
• perps
• racketeers
• gangsters
• thugs
• sinners
• mobsters
• hoodlums
• transgressors
• guns
• hooligans
• recidivists
• triggermen
• misdoers
• misfeasors
• evildoers
• gallows birds
• enforcers
• blackhanders
• backsliders
• gunmen
• button men
• gunsels
• hit men
• relapsers
• repeaters

Dissimilar Words

• lawmen
• gangbusters

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of defendants

All co-defendants are accused of failing to protect a minor and negligence. — Madeline Morrison, NBC news, 11 Sep. 2026

Quijano and Arzuaga are the only two defendants who have been sentenced so far. — Madison Scott, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2026

Brass and the other two defendants — Courtney Price, 49, of Jacksonville, Florida, and Jateisha Herron, 33, of Boron, California — are charged with conspiracy to commit identity fraud in furtherance of a state felony. — Louis Casiano, FOXNews.com, 10 Sep. 2026

Moore was not in custody, and the other three defendants were, Thompson said Tuesday evening. — Nathan Pilling, Kansas City Star, 9 Sep. 2026

According to the indictment, defendants allegedly kept Nordquist confined, forced him to stand or kneel facing the wall, physically assaulted him and poured bleach on him, amongst many other forms of extreme torture. — Wcco Staff, CBS News, 9 Sep. 2026

Lawsuits that find defendants liable or not liable risk imposing black-and-white distinctions on trade-offs that require nuanced thinking. — Jonathan Caulkins, The Conversation, 9 Sep. 2026

After the hearing, Ng told reporters that the defendants would appeal to the city's top court. — ABC News, 3 Sep. 2026

The other defendants — singer Denise Ho, scholar Hui Po Keung, and former pro-democracy lawmakers Margaret Ng and Cyd Ho — also served as trustees. — Kanis Leung, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026