Word.ws English Dictionary

vigilante

/ˌvɪd͡ʒ.ɪˈlæn.ti/US/ˌvɪd͡ʒ.əˈlæn.ti/

vigilante noun: a member of a vigilance committee.

Noun

vigilante (plural vigilantes)

  1. A member of a vigilance committee.
  2. 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.2005, Hazel E. Nelson, Cognitive-behavioural therapy with delusions and hallucinations, page 217
    • Jeptha Billingsley, who was no prize pig himself (he had been arrested for horse theft and assault with intent to murder), was to be taught a lesson, and the vigilantes made him cut down the McLemores.2011, Richard Zelade, Lone Star Travel Guide to Central Texas, page 274

Proper noun capitalized: Vigilante

Vigilante (plural Vigilantes)

  1. A surname.

vigilante meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Thai

vigilante in Tamil

சட்டத்தைக் கையில் எடுத்துச் செயல்படுபவர்

vigilante in Urdu

چوکس گروہ

vigilante in Thai

person who considers it their responsibility to summarily uphold the law
ศาลเตี้ย sǎan-dtîia

Forms of vigilante

Noun
pluralvigilantes
Proper noun
pluralVigilantes

Plural of vigilante: vigilantes

Origin of vigilante

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

Words formed from vigilante

Questions about vigilante

What does vigilante mean?
Vigilante means a member of a vigilance committee.
What is vigilante in Tamil?
Vigilante in Tamil is சட்டத்தைக் கையில் எடுத்துச் செயல்படுபவர். See Vigilante meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is vigilante?
Vigilante can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce vigilante?
Vigilante is pronounced /ˌvɪd͡ʒ.ɪˈlæn.ti/ (UK).
What is the plural of vigilante?
The plural of vigilante is vigilantes.

Words near vigilante in the dictionary

  1. vigilance men
  2. vigilances
  3. vigilancies
  4. vigilancy
  5. vigilant
  6. vigilante
  7. vigilanteism
  8. vigilantelike
  9. vigilantes
  10. Vigilantian
  11. vigilantism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: vigilante (page history and authors); Vigilante (page history and authors); vigilante (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); vigilante (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-vigilante.wav.

Cite this entry: “vigilante.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vigilante. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.