as in bandits
formal + old-fashioned
a person who commits robbery usually as part of a group
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Recent Examples of brigands
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
Popular Science Team, Popular Science, 24 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for brigands
Noun
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Set against mountainous landscapes and rural lakes, the story follows a wandering swordsman who is falsely accused of stealing a shipment of gold and must unravel a web of intrigue involving bandits, palace guards and corrupt officials while attempting to clear his name.—
Lin Ying-Hsuan,
Variety,
18 Mar. 2026
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Alongside attacks by bandits, Nigeria is also plagued by an insurgency fought by the Boko Haram extremist group and its splinter faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
17 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Göring, played by Russell Crowe, is the troubling centerpiece of James Vanderbilt’s ambitious film devoted to the trial of the major Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg in 1945–1946.—
Alice Kaplan,
The New York Review of Books,
4 Apr. 2026
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Also included is a 13% increase in funding for the Department of Justice to focus on violent criminals and a $481 million increase in funding to enhance aviation safety and support an air traffic controller hiring surge.—
LISA MASCARO,
Arkansas Online,
4 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Tim Brinkhof The Past Julius Caesar was once captured by pirates.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
25 Mar. 2026
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Themed weeks include Harry Potter, Star Wars and pirates.—
Jessie Dax-Setkus,
Oc Register,
22 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Most are not desperados on the run.—
William Morris,
Des Moines Register,
4 Mar. 2026
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These are desperadoes in the White House.—
Anne Thompson,
IndieWire,
26 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Mirrors were such a precious commodity in the heyday of the Venetian Republic that the assassins were dispatched to, well, dispatch any defectors who left La Serenissima and tried to take the secrets of creating that mesmerizing, reflective surface along with them.—
Mark Ellwood,
Robb Report,
17 Mar. 2026
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Consider Bobbi, one of the assassins sent north to find Armando.—
Michael Snyder,
The Atlantic,
13 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Holmes qualified for the reduced term under a 2023 rule change allowing first-time offenders to do less time for some non-violent crimes, according to an order issued Thursday by the federal judge who sentenced her in 2022 for defrauding investors in her blood-testing startup.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
27 Mar. 2026
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And many Democrats see it as an effort to curb more liberal prosecutors who have embraced restorative justice policies, including steering nonviolent offenders away from prison sentences or taking more lax approaches to drug offenses.—
Riley Bunch,
AJC.com,
27 Mar. 2026
Noun
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In fact, the GTW ruffians have to give the Big Honey some props for his relative restraint in the heat of the moment.—
Sean Keeler,
Denver Post,
28 Feb. 2026
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Ciri, unbeknowest to her surrogate ma and pa, is free of her Nilfgaardian captors and on the run with a band of adolescent ruffians, and perhaps figuring out how to take care of herself.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
30 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The money is then often gone for good into the hands of the crooks.—
Susan Tompor,
Freep.com,
28 Mar. 2026
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Native to the mountainous rainforests of Brazil, Easter lily (Rhipsalidopsis gaertneri) is an epiphyte, which grows in the crooks of tree branches.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
15 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Brigands.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/brigands. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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