A bandit is a robber or outlaw who steals from people, often operating in remote areas like mountains, forests, or deserts. Bandits typically work in groups, ambushing travelers on roads or raiding small villages. Throughout history, bandits have attacked stagecoaches, caravans, and trains, taking money, goods, and valuables by force or threat.

Unlike a thief who sneaks around quietly, a bandit operates more openly and often violently, usually in places where law enforcement is weak or far away. In the Old West, bandits robbed banks and trains. In medieval times, bandits hid in forests and attacked merchants traveling between towns.

Today we still use bandit for outlaws and robbers, but also playfully. You might call your little sister a “cookie bandit” if she keeps taking cookies from the jar, or describe a clever raccoon raiding trash cans as a “trash bandit.” The word suggests someone who takes things boldly and gets away with it, at least for a while.

In slot machines, a “one-armed bandit” gets its nickname because players often lose their money to it, as if the machine were robbing them.