as in brigand
a man especially in the past who stopped travelers on roads and robbed them
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Recent Examples of highwayman
He is captured by Bedouin highwaymen, who plan to rob him.
—
Steve Hindy, Foreign Affairs, 27 Aug. 2015
Shortly before midnight on May 23, 1798, highwaymen just north of Dublin intercepted and set on fire a mail coach headed to Belfast.
—Joseph Patrick Kelly, The Conversation, 20 May 2025
The sybaritic highwayman Macheath maneuvers between a cutthroat capitalist milieu (Mr. and Mrs. Peachum) and a corrupt police force (led by Tiger Brown) while seducing daughters from both worlds (Polly Peachum and Lucy Brown).
—Alex Ross, New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2025
In the irreverent retelling of the 18th-century highwayman’s life, Turpin is the most famous but least likely of robbers, whose success is defined mostly by his charm, showmanship, and great hair.
—Jake Kanter, Deadline, 16 Jan. 2025
Written by Fielding, Richard Naylor and Jon Brittain, the series followed the contemptuous life of the 18th-century highwayman, known in York, England, as a thief, poacher and killer but whose exploits have been widely romanticized in modern culture.
—Lily Ford, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Jan. 2025
Dick Turpin was an English robber and highwayman whose criminal activities gained him notoriety in the early eighteenth century.
—Ben Morse, CNN, 14 Jan. 2025
The group gets further assistance from a charming aristocratic dandy/secret highwayman named Charles Devereaux (Frank Dillane).
—Ars Technica, 24 Dec. 2024
In the irreverent retelling of the 18th-century highwayman’s life, Turpin is the most famous but least likely of robbers, whose success is defined mostly by his charm, showmanship, and great hair.
—Jake Kanter, Deadline, 16 Jan. 2025
Steve Hindy, Foreign Affairs, 27 Aug. 2015
Shortly before midnight on May 23, 1798, highwaymen just north of Dublin intercepted and set on fire a mail coach headed to Belfast.
—Joseph Patrick Kelly, The Conversation, 20 May 2025
The sybaritic highwayman Macheath maneuvers between a cutthroat capitalist milieu (Mr. and Mrs. Peachum) and a corrupt police force (led by Tiger Brown) while seducing daughters from both worlds (Polly Peachum and Lucy Brown).
—Alex Ross, New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2025
In the irreverent retelling of the 18th-century highwayman’s life, Turpin is the most famous but least likely of robbers, whose success is defined mostly by his charm, showmanship, and great hair.
—Jake Kanter, Deadline, 16 Jan. 2025
Written by Fielding, Richard Naylor and Jon Brittain, the series followed the contemptuous life of the 18th-century highwayman, known in York, England, as a thief, poacher and killer but whose exploits have been widely romanticized in modern culture.
—Lily Ford, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Jan. 2025
Dick Turpin was an English robber and highwayman whose criminal activities gained him notoriety in the early eighteenth century.
—Ben Morse, CNN, 14 Jan. 2025
The group gets further assistance from a charming aristocratic dandy/secret highwayman named Charles Devereaux (Frank Dillane).
—Ars Technica, 24 Dec. 2024
In the irreverent retelling of the 18th-century highwayman’s life, Turpin is the most famous but least likely of robbers, whose success is defined mostly by his charm, showmanship, and great hair.
—Jake Kanter, Deadline, 16 Jan. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for highwayman
Noun
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Looking eastward, the notion that Iran, which took hundreds of thousands of casualties in repelling an Iraqi juggernaut in the 1980s, is going to melt in terror in the face of several thousand ISIS brigands is absurd.—
Steven Simon,
Foreign Affairs,
26 Aug. 2014
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Captured by brigands, the immigrants are herded into a remote Libyan prison camp where they are tormented and tortured.—
Peter Rainer,
The Christian Science Monitor,
22 Feb. 2024
Noun
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There were corridos about the exploits of bandits and outlaws, some of them Robin Hood-esque characters who outwitted oafish authorities and helped the poor.—
Kate Linthicum,
Los Angeles Times,
11 May 2025
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The Golden State Warriors came out like bandits to open the third quarter of Game 2 on Thursday, pulling to within seven of the Timberwolves early in the frame at Target Center.—
Jace Frederick,
Twin Cities,
9 May 2025
Noun
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Lion has defected from the Wakandan guard in order to run a band of pirates, and has stolen technology from Wakanda in order to found his own kingdom.—
Kambole Campbell,
Variety,
9 June 2025
-
And for Trump’s onetime pirate ship of a political movement, Butterworth’s represents an ostentatious new evolutionary phase: the deplorable as arriviste.—
Robert Draper,
New York Times,
2 June 2025
Noun
-
The operation, made up of Belarusian contract killers, runs a ballet academy that is a front for their assassin training facility.—
Shannon Carlin,
Time,
6 June 2025
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New threats emerge, including a ruthless new villain (Bill Skarsgård) and a blind assassin from Wick’s past, played by Donnie Yen in a standout performance.—
Emily Blackwood,
People.com,
6 June 2025
Noun
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Cruz, the son of an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador who came to the U.S. in the 1970s, said he’s angered by the federal government’s portrayal that anyone without documents living in the United States is a criminal.—
Summer Lin,
Los Angeles Times,
12 June 2025
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Their records contain sensitive personal information, that, if leaked, could allow criminals to steal the identities of unsuspecting customers.—
Theo Burman,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 June 2025
Noun
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The band came together fast last year, after Neil’s amazing spring tour with his old outlaw pals in Crazy Horse.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
13 June 2025
-
An apocalyptic wasteland ruled by savage bands of outlaws or a horny computer dork's bedroom — which is more terrifying?—
Jordan Hoffman,
EW.com,
6 June 2025
Noun
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The latter implies that occasionally a few or many desperados enter the Treasury markets, selling everything in sight with an eye on bringing discipline or whatever to Washington.—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
25 May 2025
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The other actors in the terrific eight-member cast — which includes Eddie Cooper, Dashiell Eaves and Ken Marks — play multiple roles as townsfolk, family members, lawmen, desperados, hucksters and suckers.—
Frank Rizzo,
Variety,
27 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Ramos-Jimenez was then arrested and taken to a local jail for possessing a weapon as a felon, Fox 10 Phoenix reported.—
Lesley Cosme Torres,
People.com,
12 June 2025
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By now, people can recognize that some groups see an advantage in shrinking the electorate — by making vote-by-mail more difficult, instituting unreasonable ID requirements, and blocking felons who completed their sentence from voting.—
Howard L. Simon,
Sun Sentinel,
10 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Highwayman.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/highwayman. Accessed 19 Jun. 2025.
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