as in thug
a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang
a gang of ruffians preying upon people who ventured into that section of town
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of ruffian
And then there was Post Malone, the rapping, rocking everyman who has replaced Kid Rock as America’s favorite ruffian.
—
Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 17 May 2024
Read More: Fans React to Beyoncé's New Album Cowboy Carter
Once seen as ruffians and pushed to the outskirts of Victorian society, cowboys were reinvented as rugged cultural heroes in the American consciousness in the early 20th century through dime novels, rodeos, movies, and more.
—TIME, 12 Apr. 2024
The building, erected in 1915 as the Rieger Hotel, served traveling salesmen, railroad ruffians and gangsters in the early 20th Century.
—David Hudnall, Kansas City Star, 11 Apr. 2024
And America’s democratic allies, who well understand the importance of U.S. democratic leadership to the global cause of freedom, have been badly shaken by the images of ruffians rampaging through the world’s most powerful democratic assembly
Get unlimited access to all Foreign Affairs.
—Larry Diamond, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2021
See All Example Sentences for ruffian
Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 17 May 2024
Read More: Fans React to Beyoncé's New Album Cowboy Carter
Once seen as ruffians and pushed to the outskirts of Victorian society, cowboys were reinvented as rugged cultural heroes in the American consciousness in the early 20th century through dime novels, rodeos, movies, and more.
—TIME, 12 Apr. 2024
The building, erected in 1915 as the Rieger Hotel, served traveling salesmen, railroad ruffians and gangsters in the early 20th Century.
—David Hudnall, Kansas City Star, 11 Apr. 2024
And America’s democratic allies, who well understand the importance of U.S. democratic leadership to the global cause of freedom, have been badly shaken by the images of ruffians rampaging through the world’s most powerful democratic assembly
Get unlimited access to all Foreign Affairs.
—Larry Diamond, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2021
See All Example Sentences for ruffian
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ruffian
Noun
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Image In so many ways, Jan. 6 had become part of his brand — a brand in which an attack on the symbol of American democracy became a defense of that same democracy: a blow against political thugs and closet communists, deep-state plots and an unjust justice system.—
Dan Barry,
New York Times,
5 Jan. 2025
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The investigation leads Cole into an ugly world of red-neck thugs and disappeared girls.—
Sandra Dallas,
The Denver Post,
2 Feb. 2025
Noun
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This shortcoming extends to its assortment of villains who, despite including celebrity appearances like AEW wrestler Samoa Joe, fail to leave a memorable impression beyond being yet another obstacle on the way to the end credits.—
Isaiah Colbert,
Rolling Stone,
18 Feb. 2025
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Ant-Man met a villain named Kang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania who battled multiple versions of himself from different timelines.—
Eliana Dockterman,
TIME,
14 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Might be important later: the criminal was able to gain entrance to the White Lotus property when Valentin pulls up on his motorcycle to the security gate to chat with Gaitok, at the exact moment a random SUV containing the thief sails through.—
Dan Heching,
CNN,
24 Feb. 2025
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Williamson spends the entire movie moving from one L.A. locale and subculture to another, meeting a motley crew of criminals rich, scrappy, and everything in between, along the way.—
Jim Hemphill,
IndieWire,
24 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Robbery by bandits and natural disasters posed constant threats.—
Abdo Riani,
Forbes,
23 Jan. 2025
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Those who bought Amazon in 1998, for example, or Tesla in 2012, or Nvidia in 2020 correctly foresaw the respective explosions of online shopping, EVs, and the AI revolution—and made out like bandits.—
Prarthana Prakash,
Fortune,
26 Nov. 2024
Noun
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In her ethnographic study of Jamaican gangs, Jaffe argues against seeing the neighborhood strongmen—or dons—as primarily violent, exploitative gangsters.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
25 Feb. 2025
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Lives are literally on the line in Vivian Qu’s genre hybrid Girls on Wire, a surprisingly gritty study of people left behind or living in the margins that fuses gangster realism with social drama and leavens both with a dash of unexpected humor.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
18 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Some of the pirates were already waiting there in speedboats.—
Soham Mitra, Lou Robinson and Patrick Gallagher,
CNN,
22 Feb. 2025
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Ozzy Osbourne could've been a pirate — and wife Sharon still regrets not letting him.—
Marina Watts,
People.com,
19 Feb. 2025
Noun
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The pint-sized assassin pulls a gun out of her fuzzy heart throw pillow and gets to work.—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
18 Feb. 2025
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Polls show skepticism remains about lone assassin theory The Justice Department and other federal government entities have reaffirmed conclusions that Oswald was solely responsible for the killing of the former president.—
Marc Ramirez,
USA TODAY,
13 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Or, without proper security in place, IRS data accessed by DOGE could be hacked by identify thieves or foreign governments.—
Howard Gleckman,
Forbes,
20 Feb. 2025
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The show sees Sy playing Assane Diop, a professional thief who imitates the literary character Arsène Lupin.—
Joe Otterson,
Variety,
20 Feb. 2025
Articles Related to ruffian
Cite this Entry
“Ruffian.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ruffian. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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