a member of a group of people who try to prevent crime or punish criminals in their community, especially because they think the police are not doing this（尤指认为警方不力而自发组织的）治安会会员- vigilantes patrolling the streets在街上巡逻的民警
- vigilante groups自发的治安小组
- The neighbours have formed a vigilante group to keep a watch on the car park.邻居们组成了一个警戒小组，在停车场上值班。
- Two vigilantes who took the law into their own hands were cleared yesterday of murder.两名将法律掌握在自己手中的警惕人员昨日因谋杀获释。
Topics Crime and punishmentc2Oxford Collocations DictionaryVigilante is used before these nouns: See full entry Word Originmid 19th cent.: from Spanish, literally ‘vigilant’.