vigilante

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌvɪd͡ʒ.ɪˈlæn.ti/, /ˌvɪd͡ʒ.ɪˈlɑːn.teɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌvɪd͡ʒ.əˈlæn.ti/

vigilante (plural vigilantes)

1. A member of a vigilance committee. [from 19th c.]
2. A person who acts outside of legal authority, often violently, to punish or avenge a crime, right a perceived wrong, etc.
   • 2005, Hazel E. Nelson, Cognitive-behavioural therapy with delusions and hallucinations, page 217:

     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.

   • 2011, Richard Zelade, Lone Star Travel Guide to Central Texas, page 274:

     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.

• bond vigilante
• vigilantism
• digilante

• genitival

• IPA^(key): /vi.ʒi.lɑ̃t/

• Audio:

  (file)

vigilante

1. feminine singular of vigilant

Borrowed from Latin vigilantem.

• IPA^(key): /vi.d͡ʒiˈlan.te/
• Rhymes: -ante
• Hyphenation: vi‧gi‧làn‧te

vigilante m or f (plural vigilanti)

1. present participle of vigilare

vigilante m or f (plural vigilanti)

1. vigilant, watchful, alert

   Synonyms: vigile, attento

• vigilanza
• vigilare

vigilante m or f by sense (plural vigilanti)

1. security guard
2. vigilante

• vigliante

vigilante

1. ablative masculine/feminine/neuter singular of vigilāns

Learned borrowing from Latin vigilantem.

• Hyphenation: vi‧gi‧lan‧te

vigilante m or f (plural vigilantes)

1. vigilant; watchful; observant (alert and paying close attention)

• vigilantemente

• vigilância
• vigiar

vigilante m or f by sense (plural vigilantes)

1. a person whose job is to watch over something; a security guard

   Synonyms: segurança, vigia

• “vigilante”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

• IPA^(key): /bixiˈlante/ [bi.xiˈlãn̪.t̪e]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ante
• Syllabification: vi‧gi‧lan‧te

Borrowed from Latin vigilantem.

vigilante m or f (masculine and feminine plural vigilantes)

1. watchful, alert, wakeful

   Synonyms: alerta, listo

vigilante m or f by sense (plural vigilantes)

1. guard, watchman

   Synonym: guarda

From Argentinian anarchist bakers who named their pastries in a provocative manner as a political statement. These pastries in particular were named after police batons in reference to their straight and tubular shape.^[1]

vigilante m (plural vigilantes)

1. (Rioplatense) a roll made from puff pastry, similar to a croissant, often topped with quince cheese or pastry cream

   Coordinate term: medialuna

vigilante m (plural vigilantes)

1. (Argentina) clipping of postre vigilante (an Argentinian dessert combining a sweet ingredient (often quince cheese) and cheese)

   Synonyms: queso y dulce, postre Martín Fierro

• “vigilante”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Unadapted borrowing from English vigilante, from Spanish vigilante, from Latin vigilāns. Doublet of bihilante.

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /vid͡ʒiˈlante/ [vɪ.d͡ʒɪˈlan̪.t̪ɛ]
  • IPA^(key): (with nativization) /bid͡ʒiˈlante/ [bɪ.d͡ʒɪˈlan̪.t̪ɛ], (with nativization, no palatal assimilation) /bidjiˈlante/ [bɪd̪.jɪˈlan̪.t̪ɛ]
• Rhymes: -ante
• Syllabification: vi‧gi‧lan‧te

vigilante (Baybayin spelling ᜊᜒᜇ᜔ᜌᜒᜎᜈ᜔ᜆᜒ)

1. vigilante
2. a person suspected to be involved in extrajudicial killings in the drug war in the Philippines from 2016

• salvage

• “vigilante”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018