variants
or desperados
as in bandits
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 desperadoes
These are desperadoes in the White House.
—
Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 26 Nov. 2025
Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 26 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desperadoes
Noun
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Police arrested one of four snowball bandits caught on camera clobbering the cops with snow.—
Leonard Greene,
New York Daily News,
28 Feb. 2026
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Traditional western dramas were more likely to depict vaqueros as bandits than hard-working ranch hands whose contributions were fundamental to the American West.—
Foreign Correspondent,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Creuzot, a former state district judge and pioneer of diversion programs that steer low-level offenders from prison into rehabilitation programs, ran on his record.—
Gromer Jeffers Jr,
Dallas Morning News,
9 Mar. 2026
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The offenders forcefully entered the home, in the 700 block of Rosewood Avenue, after one of them posed as a food delivery worker to gain access to the home, Winnetka police said.—
Pioneer Press,
Chicago Tribune,
9 Mar. 2026
Noun
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By dismissing shooters as incomprehensible villains, Peterson says, families and communities may miss warning signs in the young people around them.—
Brit McCandless Farmer,
CBS News,
2 Mar. 2026
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In the finale, Muck takes the fall for Tender while the true villains get away.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
2 Mar. 2026
Noun
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To use a highfalutin film-theory term, Reign of Fire is totally bonkers, and Bale and co-star Matthew McConaughey have a blast playing survivors waging war against the beasts.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
7 Mar. 2026
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His journey introduces him to ferocious beasts, a strange and wondrous land, and the beginnings of an unforgettable friendship.—
Alex Ritman,
Variety,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
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But this remains a polling no-brainer for lawmakers, who are tired of being seen as self-serving greed monsters.—
Philip Elliott,
Time,
9 Mar. 2026
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Gyllenhaal cast her husband Peter Sarsgaard as a detective in pursuit of the two monsters on the run, with Penelope Cruz as his partner.—
Stephen Schaefer,
Boston Herald,
6 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Desperadoes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desperadoes. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.
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