vigilante - Definitions from Dictionary.com

4 results for: vigilante

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

vig·i·lan·te

Audio Help [vij-uh-lan-tee] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	a member of a vigilance committee.

2.	any person who takes the law into his or her own hands, as by avenging a crime.

–adjective

3.	done violently and summarily, without recourse to lawful procedures: vigilante justice.

[Origin: 1825–35, Americanism; < Sp: vigilant

]

—Related forms

vig·i·lan·te·ism, vig·i·lan·tism

Audio Help [vij-uh-lan-tiz-uh

m, vij-uh-luh

n-tiz-uh

m] Pronunciation Key, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
vigilante

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

vig·i·lan·te Audio Help (vĭj'ə-lān'tē) Pronunciation Key
n.

One who takes or advocates the taking of law enforcement into one's own hands.
A member of a vigilance committee.

[Spanish, watchman, vigilante, from Latin vigilāns, vigilant-, present participle of vigilāre, to be watchful, from vigil, watchful; see weg- in Indo-European roots.]

vig'i·lan'tism (-lān'tĭz-əm), vig'i·lan'te·ism (-tē-ĭz'əm) n.

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
vigilante

"member of a vigilance committee," 1856, Amer.Eng., from Sp. vigilante, lit. "watchman," from L. vigilantem (see vigilance). Vigilant man in same sense is attested from 1824 in a Missouri context. Vigilance committees kept informal rough order on the frontier or in other places where official authority was imperfect.

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