noun
- a desperate or reckless criminal, especially in the American Old West
Usage: often historical
Examples
- The desperado robbed three banks before being captured.
- Wild West movies often feature a lone desperado riding into town.
- The sheriff posted wanted posters for the notorious desperado.
- He lived like a desperado, always on the run from the law.
- The desperado’s gang terrorized the frontier settlement.
- Local newspapers wrote sensational stories about the desperado’s crimes.