black hat

American  

[blak hat] / ˈblæk ˈhæt /

noun

Informal.

1. a villain, as in a cowboy movie; bad guy.

2. Also called black hat hacker.  Computers. a hacker who violates the security of a system without the knowledge or consent of the owner or developer, as for personal profit or for the gratification of causing damage.

---

idioms

1. wear / put on a black hat, to behave villainously.

black hat British  

noun

1. informal

   1. a computer hacker who carries out illegal malicious hacking work

   2. ( as modifier ) Compare white hat

      black-hat hackers

---

Other Word Forms

• black-hat adjective
• black-hatted adjective

Etymology

Origin of black hat

First recorded in 1955–60 black hat for def. 1, and in 1990–95 black hat for def. 2; from the black hat worn by the villain in a cowboy movie

Compare meaning

How does black-hat compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• white hat vs. black hat

Example Sentences

He had settled on a black hat adorned with what looked like crab apples for my aunt to wear.

From Literature

Aunt Kitty was doing her proud walking, like she was balancing the crown of Queen Victoria herself on her head instead of that black hat festooned with crab apples.

From Literature

After Ahmed disarmed Akram, footage showed a man in a white shirt and a black hat running at the gunman and throwing an object at him.

From The Wall Street Journal

Detectives are appealing for witnesses who may have seen Mr Rafael, who is described as a Black British national, and is believed to have been wearing an all-grey tracksuit, black hat, trainers and rucksack.

From BBC

The night that Sandoval was killed in Ontario, Pulido showed up at the Firewater Bar wearing a black hat that read “Mongols M.C.” and a black sweatshirt with the letters “MFFM,” which stands for “Mongols Forever, Forever Mongols,” the officer wrote in the complaint.

From Los Angeles Times