vigilante

American  

[vij-uh-lan-tee] / ˌvɪdʒ əˈlæn ti /

noun

• vigilantes
  plural

1. a member of a vigilance committee.

2. any person who takes the law into their own hands, such as by avenging a crime.

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adjective

1. done violently and summarily, without recourse to lawful procedures.

   vigilante justice.

vigilante British  

/ ˌvɪdʒɪˈlæntɪ /

noun

1. one of an organized group of citizens who take upon themselves the protection of their district, properties, etc

2. Also called: vigilance man. a member of a vigilance committee

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• vigilanteism
  noun
• vigilantism
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• vigilantes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of vigilante

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35; from Spanish: literally, “vigilant”

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Explanation

If you’re a vigilante, you might take the law into your own hands by trying to catch or punish someone in your own way. If you wrestle jaywalkers down to the ground, you might be called a vigilante. Vigilante is a form of the word vigilant, which means "keeping a watchful or close eye on events and people." Sometimes a vigilante will make news for catching a criminal, and sometimes vigilante groups form to target crimes in a bad neighborhood. A common combined use is "vigilante justice," which refers to a form of law-keeping outside of the official channels of police and the courts.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vigilante vigilantes

In Prime Video’s “Spider-Noir,” he played Ben Reilly, a hapless and jaded private eye who used to moonlight as a masked vigilante known as the Spider until the love of his life was murdered.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

America’s most-loved fictional titans, Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne, have bottomless wealth to fund their vigilante adventures, making them especially mesmerizing to an audience raised on rags-to-riches fables.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

The first time he decided to trash one of the cameras, a self-styled vigilante wearing all black and known as Nomark says he was "super nervous."

From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026

Zorro, the masked vigilante of Old California, was created in 1919 by pulp writer Johnston McCulley and seems to hit the American screen about once a generation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026

“That’s what we should do, Hazel Grace: We should team up and be this disabled vigilante duo roaring through the world, righting wrongs, defending the weak, protecting the endangered.”

From "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green

In response, on May 15, 1850, armed vigilantes and the U.S.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

The authorities say the new vigilantes are better trained, but Samuel, from Good Governance Africa, calls them a "time bomb waiting to happen".

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

So even though the so-called bond vigilantes may have taken a brief break from selling bonds, they probably haven’t gone away for good.

From Barron's ● May 29, 2026

The only discipline on this crowd are the bond vigilantes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026

And while I am very much in favour of forming an army of well- informed punctuation vigilantes, I can foresee problems getting everyone to pull in the same direc-tion.

From "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Author

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