DESPERADOS Synonyms: 76 Similar and Opposite Words

desperadoes

noun

variants or desperados

plural of desperado

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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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of desperadoes Most are not desperados on the run. — William Morris, Des Moines Register, 4 Mar. 2026 These are desperadoes in the White House. — Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 26 Nov. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for desperadoes

Noun

In the decade of violent conflicts that followed, attacks on border towns and seizures of American property by revolutionaries and bandits prompted the United States to send two military expeditions into Mexico.

— Robert B. Zoellick, Foreign Affairs, 9 Oct. 2026
Joining Prue is her classmate Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay), and the two enter a world of talking animals, bandits and powerful figures driven by grief and ambition.

— Mya Copeland, Variety, 7 Oct. 2026

Definition of bandits

Noun

Sincere Lanier, 22, is one of several offenders who allegedly stole from machines at Stella’s Place March 24 and Avenue Flower Shop and Wine Bar March 29, Oak Lawn police say.

— Olivia Stevens, Chicago Tribune, 8 Oct. 2026
Too often, special occasions can feel like an excuse to buy a new outfit; weddings are the worst offenders.

— Corinne Pierre-Louis, Vogue, 7 Oct. 2026

Definition of offenders

Noun

The station is soon invaded by out-of-time baseball stars, fairytale villains, and unseasonal snow, all created by aliens eager to understand the concept of imagination.

— Richard Edwards, Space.com, 10 Oct. 2026
The zombie is one of the most elastic and grotesque villains in the genre, shifting dramatically from early-Hollywood films built on racial stereotypes to the now-popular vision of a monster that yearns to devour those still living.

— Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of villains

Noun

Dangerous donkeys On one side is the public safety crowd, who insist the 500-pound beasts are a menace to the free flow of commerce.

— Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 8 Oct. 2026
The Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery (7 miles north of San Simeon) remains full of massive, delightfully noisy beasts.

— David G. Allan, CNN Money, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of beasts

Noun

Next week, find out how monsters, ghouls and slashers can also mean big bucks.

— Ayesha Rascoe, NPR, 11 Oct. 2026
The story begins in 1990, when John Eng, an endocrinologist at the Veterans Administration, isolated a peptide from the venom of Gila monsters, the nearly two-foot-long lizards native to the Southwest.

— Dr. Bowman Heiden, Fortune, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of monsters

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Style

“Desperadoes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desperadoes. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of desperadoes

noun

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