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highwaymen

noun

plural of highwayman
as in bandits
a man especially in the past who stopped travelers on roads and robbed them

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for highwaymen
  1. bandits
  2. brigands
  3. criminals
  4. pirates
  5. desperadoes
  6. offenders
  7. assassins
  8. ruffians
Noun
  • When a wealthy, royal woman is attacked by bandits, the two men save her and are welcomed to the castle as valiant knights.
    — Jourdain Searles, HollywoodReporter, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Elsewhere, a gang of highway bandits cons an unsuspecting family into stopping by the roadside, only to violently kill them, burn their bodies, and strip their car for parts.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, IndieWire, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of bandits
Noun
  • Their captors beset by these foreign brigands, Larys and Aegon manage to escape.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026
  • Their stories live on in Sardinian lore with an almost mythical quality, the brigands admired for their intractability.
    — IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 7 May 2026
Definition of brigands
Noun
  • Now federal investigators say criminals turned that everyday habit into a way to steal bank logins and drain accounts.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2026
  • Trump, his family and his wealthy cronies are criminals spending taxpayers’ money and taking it with their underhanded deals with our enemies.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of criminals
Noun
  • Their journey brings them into conflict with pirates seeking control of the sacred water on which their community depends.
    — Ed Meza, Variety, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Knights in shining armor, pirates and princesses grace the grounds of Sleepy Hollow for the annual Renaissance Faire in Des Moines.
    — Kyle Werner, Des Moines Register, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of pirates
Noun
  • 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
Definition of desperadoes
Noun
  • The Police Department has cracked down on speeding and street racing in recent years using drones and other technology to nab offenders, Oldoerp said.
    — Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2026
  • Five offenders entered a Green Oaks business early Wednesday and used crowbars and sledgehammers to break into gaming machines, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
    — Clifford Ward, Chicago Tribune, 11 Sep. 2026
Definition of offenders
Noun
  • Some earlier assassins expected it of themselves, canceling plots that would have killed bystanders.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Sep. 2026
  • The settler assassins were arrested by the police and as usual released within a few hours.
    — David Shulman, The New York Review of Books, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of assassins
Noun
  • But as with any good Leonard story, the best moments come from the characters, a rogues’ gallery of violent ruffians and neurotic, duplicitous scoundrels.
    — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Sep. 2026
  • The series has lent a cinematic gangster attraction to the Peaky Blinders, yet the term itself was not one gang — as depicted in the show — but a generic expression from the late 19th century for the ‘street ruffians’ of Birmingham, born out of the city’s ring of poverty.
    — Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2026
Definition of ruffians
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.

Browse Nearby Words

highwayman
highwaymen
highway robbery
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Cite this Entry

“Highwaymen.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/highwaymen. Accessed 26 Sep. 2026.

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