Vigilante

//ˌvɪd͡ʒ.əˈlæn.ti// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of a vigilance committee.
  2. 2
    member of a vigilance committee wordnet
  3. 3
    A person who acts outside of legal authority, often violently, to punish or avenge a crime, right a perceived wrong, etc.

    "For example, a voice accusing a man of being a paedophile might be based on recent TV news programmes about antipaedophile vigilante groups, plus the memory of having been accused of being a pervert by a neighbour, plus fears that he might be a secret paedophile because he enjoyed reading Lolita."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
dirty harrydirty harryvigilance committeevigilance man

Example

More examples

"A vigilante bypasses the law and takes matters into his own hands."

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish vigilante (“watchman, guard”), from Latin vigilans. Doublet of vigilant.

Related phrases

bond vigilante

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.