vigilantism

noun

"vigilantism" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“vigilantism” is uncommon English (frequency #67,151 among 969 “V” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#67,151
frequency rank, English
969
“V” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The activities of a vigilante; acting outside of legal authority, often violently, to punish or avenge a crime, right a perceived wrong, etc.

Corpus desk

Index EN-vigilantism · vigilantism · English

vigilantism · rank #67,151 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #67,151
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 969
  • PHOTO-FINISH Villegas

Nearest frequency peer: Villegas (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “vigilantism”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “vigilantism” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for vigilantism
PropertyValue
Headwordvigilantism
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Frequency rank#67,151
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “vigilantism” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).vigilantismfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “Villegas” (#67,152), “verbena” (#67,149), “velar” (#67,148). Among 969 “V” headwords, “vigilantism” is #67,151. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

vigilantism is uncommon English at frequency #67,151 among 969 “V” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The activities of a vigilante; acting outside of legal authority, often violently, to punish or avenge a crime, right a perceived wrong, etc.".

vigilantism doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From vigilante + -ism. The correct English form is vigilantism, spelled V-I-G-I-L-A-N-T-I-S-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    The activities of a vigilante; acting outside of legal authority, often violently, to punish or avenge a crime, right a perceived wrong, etc.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how vigilantism appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Mr Shapiro also criticised the way Israel governs in the occupied lands, saying “too much Israeli vigilantism in the West Bank goes unchecked,” he said.

Etymology

From vigilante + -ism.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "vigilantism"?
"vigilantism" is spelled V-I-G-I-L-A-N-T-I-S-M.
What does "vigilantism" mean?
As a noun, "vigilantism" means: The activities of a vigilante; acting outside of legal authority, often violently, to punish or avenge a crime, right a perceived wrong, etc.
What is the origin of the word "vigilantism"?
From vigilante + -ism. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "vigilantism", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list