Kirk had been building his reputation as an imperious, right-wing avenger on college campuses, debating anyone willing to step up to the microphone to challenge him.
—
Michael Luo,
New Yorker,
28 Sep. 2025
Mangione's image has been merged into memes with Nintendo's Luigi, portraying him as a vigilante avenger of systemic injustice.
The Dark Hearts, for whatever reason, weren’t a fan of this vigilante justice.
—
Grace Byron,
Vulture,
29 Sep. 2025
Directed by the iconic Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another stars DiCaprio as Bob Ferguson, a vigilante and former rebel who is on the run from Penn's Officer Steven Lockjaw.
Montgomery has barely been in the big leagues for two months but has already put his name alongside a couple of franchise icons (and another hard-core punisher of baseballs).
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.
Share