as in bandit
old-fashioned
a violent criminal who is not afraid of getting hurt or caught
A documentary about some notorious desperados of the Wild West.
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Recent Examples of desperado
The other actors in the terrific eight-member cast — which includes Eddie Cooper, Dashiell Eaves and Ken Marks — play multiple roles as townsfolk, family members, lawmen, desperados, hucksters and suckers.
—
Frank Rizzo, Variety, 27 Apr. 2025
Still, the robbery sent an Oklahoma sheriff’s posse and bloodhounds after these bungling desperados.
—Mara Bovsun, New York Daily News, 8 Mar. 2025
Martín Ramírez’s large Caballero features a magnificent desperado pointing his gun as his almost-hieroglyphic horse rears its head — a brilliant universal altarpiece.
—Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2024
The true story of the formerly enslaved man who became the first Black deputy U.S. marshal comes to life on Lawmen: Bass Reeves, an eight-episode series starring David Oyelowo as the storied gunslinger who arrested some 3,000 desperados without ever suffering a single wound.
—EW.com, 5 Nov. 2023
See All Example Sentences for desperado
Frank Rizzo, Variety, 27 Apr. 2025
Still, the robbery sent an Oklahoma sheriff’s posse and bloodhounds after these bungling desperados.
—Mara Bovsun, New York Daily News, 8 Mar. 2025
Martín Ramírez’s large Caballero features a magnificent desperado pointing his gun as his almost-hieroglyphic horse rears its head — a brilliant universal altarpiece.
—Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 30 Oct. 2024
The true story of the formerly enslaved man who became the first Black deputy U.S. marshal comes to life on Lawmen: Bass Reeves, an eight-episode series starring David Oyelowo as the storied gunslinger who arrested some 3,000 desperados without ever suffering a single wound.
—EW.com, 5 Nov. 2023
See All Example Sentences for desperado
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desperado
Noun
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The West African nation has been fighting an insurgency for more than a decade, with Boko Haram and its splinter group, the Islamic State of West Africa Province, in addition to several amorphous groups commonly referred to as bandits.—
Pelumi Salako,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
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In the end, Al-Sufyani drove off the bandits, who only managed to grab two small packages.—
Kerry Burke,
New York Daily News,
3 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Barraza, who was a member of the 501st Legion, a fan group that painstakingly re-creates Star Wars villains' costumes, already had her new suitcases packed — which resembled the ones Harry Potter took with him to Hogwarts.—
Christine Pelisek,
PEOPLE,
4 Feb. 2026
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To see him as a criminal, a perpetrator and villain, was a cognitive dissonance that demanded our attention.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
4 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Despite the wholesale change in how California sentences juvenile offenders, outrage over the crime has not faded.—
Kelly Davis,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
8 Feb. 2026
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In 2024, the Associated Press reported that inmates at a Virginia facility that predominantly holds mentally ill offenders were hospitalized for hypothermia at least 13 times over the course of three years.—
N'dea Yancey-Bragg,
USA Today,
8 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Clues in the snow led to the arrests of two suspects in a business break-in during last weekend’s monster storm in the Charlotte region and rest of the state, Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said in a social media post.—
Joe Marusak,
Charlotte Observer,
7 Feb. 2026
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The 6-8 Mendoza was a monster on Friday, scoring 21 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and blocking six shots.—
John Maffei,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Like a giant beast, the kids in the crowd flung their missiles toward the stage and their predator, who clearly was knocked off his game by the intensity of the reaction.—
Chris Jones,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Feb. 2026
-
Niklas Östberg is a rare beast.—
Kamal Ahmed,
Fortune,
6 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Season 2 explores where this chaos comes from, and the difficulty in distinguishing the sheriff from the outlaw.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
5 Feb. 2026
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And outlaw lovers in a wild and combustible romance!—
Glenn Garner,
Deadline,
4 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Desperado.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desperado. Accessed 11 Feb. 2026.
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