vigilante

English

/vɪdʒɪˈlænti/

noun
Definitions
  • A person who considers it their own responsibility to uphold the law in their neighborhood and often does so summarily and without legal jurisdiction.

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish, Castilian vigilante (watchman, guard) derived from Latin vigilans.

Origin

Latin

vigilans

Gloss

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms