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

Both Seaver and his company, Squadron Augmented Protection Services LLC, are the defendants in the lawsuit. — Andrea Flores, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026

Unlike the January indictment, which also named Diosdado Cabello, Ramón Rodríguez Chacín and other defendants, the new charging document names only Maduro and Flores. — Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald, 8 Oct. 2026

After winning the election, Grasso filed a defamation lawsuit against Mottl, to which Corbett and Cor Strategies were later added as defendants. — Dan Petrella, Chicago Tribune, 8 Oct. 2026

The defendants in the lawsuit — Trump, the White House, DHS and the Office of Management and Budget — didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. — ABC News, 7 Oct. 2026

Newell sent the Snapchat message, and the other defendants eventually entered the room. — Janelle Griffith, PEOPLE, 7 Oct. 2026

Doe alleged the defendants snorted ketamine off her body and forced her to do the same off theirs. — David Zimmermann, The Washington Examiner, 2 Oct. 2026

The civil action names High Meadow Management Company and 311 LLC — the latter of which owns the property — as defendants. — Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 2 Oct. 2026

The ongoing civil lawsuit may also bring about systemic changes, even as some accuse Cornell of treating the seven defendants too lightly. — Justin Klawans, TheWeek, 1 Oct. 2026