as in bandit
old-fashioned
a violent criminal who is not afraid of getting hurt or caught
A documentary about some notorious desperados of the Wild West.
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Recent Examples of desperado
Actually, the two would-be desperadoes might have fared better going up against the late, great action star.
—
Joe Leydon, Variety, 3 Aug. 2023
The series revival, based Elmore Leonard’s novel City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit, has Givens on a collision course with Clement Mansell — aka The Oklahoma Wildman — a desperado played by Boyd Holbrook, who’s already eluded a Motor City police task force on his heels.
—Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 May 2023
The Oklahoma Wildman, a violent, sociopathic desperado who's already slipped through the fingers of Detroit's finest once and aims to do so again with the help of his formidable lawyer Carolyn Wilder (Aunjanue Ellis).
—Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 11 May 2023
The lore of Arizona includes everything from Native stories to supernatural occurrences to tales of desperados.
—Thomas France, The Arizona Republic, 3 Apr. 2023
See All Example Sentences for desperado
Joe Leydon, Variety, 3 Aug. 2023
The series revival, based Elmore Leonard’s novel City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit, has Givens on a collision course with Clement Mansell — aka The Oklahoma Wildman — a desperado played by Boyd Holbrook, who’s already eluded a Motor City police task force on his heels.
—Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 May 2023
The Oklahoma Wildman, a violent, sociopathic desperado who's already slipped through the fingers of Detroit's finest once and aims to do so again with the help of his formidable lawyer Carolyn Wilder (Aunjanue Ellis).
—Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 11 May 2023
The lore of Arizona includes everything from Native stories to supernatural occurrences to tales of desperados.
—Thomas France, The Arizona Republic, 3 Apr. 2023
See All Example Sentences for desperado
Recent Examples of Synonyms for desperado
Noun
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Want to try and take on a bandit camp but don’t want to risk dying?—
George Yang,
Rolling Stone,
3 Feb. 2025
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Matt Dillon as Bob Hughes, lead junkie bandit of Drugstore Cowboy would also slot right in now, as would the late River Phoenix as conflicted hustler Mike Waters in Idaho.—
Matt Thompson,
SPIN,
3 Feb. 2025
Noun
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In Lynch’s festering neo-noir mystery from 1987, Hopper plays a chronic villain perpetually sipping from a tank of amyl nitrate and handing out hits as a way to manipulate his henchmen.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
14 Mar. 2025
-
Quinn is such a mustache-twirling villain throughout that his interactions with Reacher feel overly cartoonish.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Fing turns out to be as much as a destructive monster as Myrtle, who in turn, must battle it out with the evil animal park owner, The Viscount (Waititi), determined to own this rarest of creatures.—
Lily Ford,
The Hollywood Reporter,
19 Mar. 2025
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Fing turns out to be as much as a destructive monster as Myrtle, who in turn, must battle it out with the evil animal park owner, The Viscount (Waititi), who is determined to own this rarest of creatures.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
19 Mar. 2025
Noun
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One feature that makes this beast of a shoe so unique is the rugged, textured Vibram Megagrip outsoles.—
Amelia McBride,
Travel + Leisure,
15 Mar. 2025
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Make no mistake, Draisaitl has been a beast at five-on-five this season — regardless of the circumstances.—
Daniel Nugent-Bowman,
The Athletic,
15 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Desperado.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/desperado. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.
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