marauder
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of marauder
Explanation
A marauder is someone who roams around looking for things to steal. You might hear news reports about a marauder breaking into cars in your neighborhood. The word marauder entered English in the 17th century, from the Middle French word maraud, meaning "rascal." Even in modern times, if you’re a marauder you’re certainly a rascal — probably even a criminal. A marauder doesn’t target a victim and plan a crime — instead a marauder is on the move looking for opportunities to rob people or steal things. Marauders often travel in groups, looting whatever they can.
Vocabulary lists containing marauder
Grendel
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The Road
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Salt to the Sea
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Their center, Jonquel Jones, is an imposing, electric presence, and a marauder on the boards.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 8, 2019
It is now an ecological marauder destined to continue its spread for decades, long after those suburban tract houses have faded away.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 17, 2018
He soon encounters Adrian Toomes, a villainous arms dealer played by Michael Keaton, who has his own alter-ego in the form of wing-sporting marauder Vulture.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2017
The problem facing the adapters was the challenge of evoking the famous marauder of legend: that headless Hessian on horseback terrorizing the good people of Sleepy Hollow in rural New York.
From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2011
He slipped away through fields and forests, his precious old instrument under his arm, to seek out refuge in the hall of some lesser marauder.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
