different between vigilante vs posse

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish vigilante (“watchman, guard”), from Latin vigilans. Doublet of vigilant.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /v?d???lænti/, /v?d???l??nte?/

Noun

vigilante (plural vigilantes)

1. A person who considers it their own responsibility to uphold the law in their neighborhood and often does so summarily and without legal jurisdiction. [from 19th c.]

Derived terms

• vigilantism
• digilante

Translations

Anagrams

• genitival

French

Adjective

vigilante

1. feminine singular of vigilant

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vigilans, vigilantem.

Verb

vigilante

1. present participle of vigilare

Adjective

vigilante (plural vigilanti)

1. vigilant, watchful, alert

   Synonyms: vigile, attento

Related terms

• vigilanza
• vigilare

Noun

vigilante m or f (plural vigilanti)

1. security guard
2. vigilante

Latin

Participle

vigilante

1. ablative masculine singular of vigil?ns
2. ablative feminine singular of vigil?ns
3. ablative neuter singular of vigil?ns

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vigilans, vigilantem.

Adjective

vigilante m or f (plural vigilantes, comparable)

1. vigilant; watchful; observant (alert and paying close attention)

Derived terms

• vigilantemente

Related terms

• vigilância
• vigilar

Noun

vigilante m, f (plural vigilantes)

1. a person whose job is to watch over something

Further reading

• “vigilante” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vigilans, vigilantem.

Adjective

vigilante (plural vigilantes)

1. watchful, alert, wakeful

Noun

vigilante m or f (plural vigilantes)

1. guard, watchman

   Synonym: guarda

Derived terms

Related terms

• vigilancia
• vigilar

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish vigilante

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bid?i?lante/

Noun

vigilante

1. vigilante
2. a person suspected to be involved in extrajudicial killings in the drug war in the Philippines from 2016.

Related terms

• salvage

English

Etymology

Ellipsis of posse comitatus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p?.si/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?p?.si/
• Rhymes: -?si

Noun

posse (plural posses)

1. A group or company of people, originally especially one having hostile intent; a throng, a crowd. [from 17th c.]
2. (now historical, in later use chiefly US) A group of people summoned to help law enforcement. [from 17th c.]

   Coordinate term: vigilante

   • 1751, Tobias Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, I.20:

     He […] no sooner set his nose within the room to which he was directed, than the constable and his posse sprung upon him, before he had the least intimation of his design, or any opportunity of acting in his own defence.

   • 1986, Donald R. Lavash, Sheriff William Brady, Tragic Hero of the Lincoln County War, Sunstone Press (?ISBN), page 77:

     Mathews then appointed Morton as a deputy sheriff and after a posse had been selected, they went in pursuit of the criminals. Within a few hours, the posse overtook the thieves.

   • 2013, Andrew C. Isenberg, Wyatt Earp: A Vigilante Life, Hill and Wang (?ISBN), page 165:

     While Wyatt dismounted and aimed his shotgun at Brocius, the rest of his posse retreated.

3. (US) A search party.
4. (US, Jamaican, slang) A criminal gang. [from 20th c.]
   • 1997, Michael D. Lyman, Organized Crime, Prentice Hall, page 287:

     Jamaican posses can be traced back to the Jamaican neighborhoods, and posse names correspond to the names of each neighborhood in which the gangs operate.

5. (colloquial) A group of (especially young) people seen as constituting a peer group or band of associates; a gang, a group of friends. [from 20th c.]
   • 2014, April Boyd-Noronha, The Soul of a Single Parent: How to Snapback and Get Your SWAG On, AuthorHouse (?ISBN), page 77:

     But the few friends that I DO have are my “ride or die” chicks—my posse.

Translations

Further reading

• “posse”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• posse comitatus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Jamaican posse on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

Anagrams

• ESOPs, pesos, poses, s'pose, sopes, speos, spose

Jamaican Creole

Etymology

From English posse.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pa.s?/
• Hyphenation: po?sse

Noun

posse (plural: posse dem, quantified: posse)

1. criminal crew; gang; posse

See also

• backitive
• crew
• Klansman
• One Order
• Shower Posse

Latin

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /?pos.se/, [?p?s???]

• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?pos.se/, [?p?s??]

Verb

posse

1. present active infinitive of possum  "to be able (to)"

Noun

posse n (indeclinable)

1. power, ability
2. potentiality, capability of being
3. (Late Latin) force, body of men
4. (Medieval Latin) territory, dominion

References

• "possum", see "Posse as subst. (poet.)" in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• posse in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin posse (“power, ability”).

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /?p?.s?/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?p?.si/
• (South Brazil) IPA^(key): /?p?.se/
• Hyphenation: pos?se

Noun

posse f (plural posses)

1. possession, land
2. (uncountable) ownership
3. (uncountable, politics) command