brigands

noun

plural of brigand
as in bandits
formal + old-fashioned a person who commits robbery usually as part of a group

Related Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

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 brigands 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, 7 May 2026 Then rumors started spreading about armed brigands that would come to town to steal what little harvest folks had left, so towns raised militias to fight back. — Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 24 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brigands
  1. bandits
  2. criminals
  3. pirates
  4. desperadoes
  5. assassins
  6. offenders
  7. ruffians
  8. crooks
Noun
  • The father pulls over, and the car is immediately swarmed over by bandits, who brutally kill him — plus his wife and two kids — with no mercy.
    — Damon Wise, Deadline, 12 Oct. 2026
  • 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
Definition of bandits
Noun
  • That same month, criminals nabbed a $4 million diamond necklace from Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts (MAK).
    — Lianne Kolirin, CNN Money, 16 Oct. 2026
  • For decades, Hollywood actor Danny Trejo’s bread and butter was playing gangsters, prison inmates and other assorted criminals.
    — Corky Siemaszko, NBC news, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of criminals
Noun
  • Wild to me though that something that expensive would just be dropped off with porch pirates out there.
    — Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Jamal convened a press conference proclaiming to be able to communicate by phone with Somali pirates who were holding a Nigerian ship hostage.
    — Mia Cathell, The Washington Examiner, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of pirates
Noun
  • Seghers transforms Cooper into another of her restless desperadoes—a Vietnam vet in quest of an unspoiled world.
    — Alex Ross, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
  • Most are not desperados on the run.
    — William Morris, Des Moines Register, 4 Mar. 2026
Definition of desperadoes
Noun
  • Based on Nick Harkaway’s novel The Price You Pay, the show follows Jackie Price, a former drug queenpin hunted by seven elite assassins.
    — Abbey White, HollywoodReporter, 10 Oct. 2026
  • The final sequence bookends the first with River, Sid, and Coe once again being stalked by the assassins but this time getting the worst of it.
    — Scott Tobias, Vulture, 7 Oct. 2026
Definition of assassins
Noun
  • Research on offenders with mental disorders suggests that recidivism depends more on criminal history than on diagnosis.
    — Leigh Egan, FOXNews.com, 16 Oct. 2026
  • At the root of the crisis is inadequate laws to punish offenders and a poor judicial system, activists say.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of offenders
Noun
  • The others were ruffians, teasers, always angling to drink whatever was left in some grownup’s glass.
    — George Saunders, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2026
  • 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
Definition of ruffians
Noun
  • But con men and crooks operate in the same world as fixers, and journalists can be easy marks for a story that’s too good to be true.
    — Austin Elias-de Jesus, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2026
  • The crooks beat him savagely, at one point slashing him with a machete, while demanding his iPhone password, officials said.
    — Colin Mixson, New York Daily News, 22 Sep. 2026
Definition of crooks

Browse Nearby Words

brigand
brigands
brigantine
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Brigands.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brigands. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of compunction

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All