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

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

Until recently in Louisiana’s Western District, petitioners had to formally deliver the lawsuit and summons to government defendants in person and through certified mail. — Carla Astudillo, ProPublica, 3 Sep. 2026

Unlike his co-defendants, Abbatiello was initially denied bail, and he has since been held at the Centre County Correctional Facility in Bellefonte. — Matt Lavietes, NBC news, 2 Sep. 2026

The complaint names Clark and Johanna Morgan and South Chicago Chapel as defendants, alongside the facility’s owner and contract buyer. — Tess Kenny, Chicago Tribune, 1 Sep. 2026

The defendants’ decision not to question a witness did not amount to carrying out the agreements, the government argued, because the agreements did not require that action and the defendants had not withdrawn their pending motions. — Kaelan Deese, The Washington Examiner, 27 Aug. 2026

Under Schrama's 11-page order, Mohammed and three co-defendants — Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin 'Atash, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali — will stand trial starting on June 5, 2028. — Steve Gorman, USA Today, 27 Aug. 2026

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Montana AG Austin Knudsen filed a motion with the Supreme Court seeking to have the antitrust suit thrown out, naming California and the 11 other states party to the Paramount lawsuit as defendants. — Todd Spangler, Variety, 26 Aug. 2026