bandits
Highway robbery perpetrators
Bandits are outlaws who rob travelers or conduct raids, typically operating in groups in remote areas.
The word evokes Wild West stagecoach robbers or mountain brigands.
By extension, bandit describes anyone who takes unfairly: insurance bandits, one-armed bandit for a slot machine.
The bandits ambushed the convoy at dawn.
Those who commit larceny
- robbersThose who steal forcibly
- outlawsFugitives from justice
- gangstersOrganized crime members
- crooksCriminals or hooked staffs
felons · muggers · highwaymen · marauders · desperados · ruffians · hoodlums · cutthroats
Edge of settlement
- gunslingersFast-drawing frontier fighters
- stagecoachHorse-drawn route vehicle
- sheriffCounty's chief officer
- bounty huntersThose paid to capture fugitives
posse · outlaws · rustlers · saloon · wanted posters · six-shooter · holdup · train robbery
Irregular combatants, unconventional warfare
- insurgentsThose fighting established authority
- revolutionariesThose seeking systemic overthrow
- resistanceCapacity to withstand force
- partisansStaunch factional supporters
freedom fighters · militants · separatists · irregulars · maquis · paramilitaries · underground · cells
thieves
Those who commit larceny
crooks · felons · muggers · highwaymen · marauders · desperados · ruffians · hoodlums · cutthroats · thugs
frontier
Edge of settlement
- gunslingersFast-drawing frontier fighters
- stagecoachHorse-drawn route vehicle
- sheriffCounty's chief officer
bounty hunters · posse · outlaws · rustlers · saloon · wanted posters · six-shooter · holdup · train robbery · hideout
robbery
Theft through intimidation
ambush · getaway · masks · hideout · ransom · gang · score · swag · caper · vault
guerrillas
Irregular combatants, unconventional warfare
- insurgentsThose fighting established authority
- revolutionariesThose seeking systemic overthrow
- resistanceCapacity to withstand force
partisans · freedom fighters · militants · separatists · irregulars · maquis · paramilitaries · underground · cells · ambush
- Old Westcowboy, cowboys, cowgirl, sheriff, sheriffs
- roguesrogue, rogues, scoundrel, scoundrels, rascal
- raidersraiders, marauders, pillagers, plunderers, looters
- Water Marginoutlaws, brotherhood, heroes
- Westernscowboys, western, outlaws, sheriffs, western novels
- Wild Westcowboy, howdy, sheriff, giddyup, lawmen
banditslawmen
Official crime fighters
sheriffs · police · marshals · law enforcement · deputies
- one-armed banditLever-operated gambling machine
- make out like a banditGain disproportionate advantage
- masked banditDark-eyed nocturnal mammal
- one-arm banditLever-activated gambling device
- time banditSomething stealing your hours
- trash banditGarbage-raiding masked mammal