as in gangster
a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang
the Mob boss regularly sent his thugs after people who were slow to pay their debts
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of thug
There was a time, not long ago, when men who lifted weights for fun were seen as either thugs or narcissists.
—
Danielle Friedman, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2025
The proximate cause of the war crimes chronicled in Han’s novels is South Korea’s succession of authoritarian governments, their soldiers and police; on Jeju Island, these were joined by gangs of right-wing thugs.
—Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025
Like Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Assad will be remembered as a thug who left his country on the brink of state failure.
—Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 10 Jan. 2025
Yes, that is Canet playing the paragliding avenger, Franck, who’s trying to free his abducted pregnant wife, Léo (Stéphane Caillard), from a blackmailing thug.
—Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Times, 10 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for thug
Danielle Friedman, New York Times, 15 Jan. 2025
The proximate cause of the war crimes chronicled in Han’s novels is South Korea’s succession of authoritarian governments, their soldiers and police; on Jeju Island, these were joined by gangs of right-wing thugs.
—Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 14 Jan. 2025
Like Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Assad will be remembered as a thug who left his country on the brink of state failure.
—Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 10 Jan. 2025
Yes, that is Canet playing the paragliding avenger, Franck, who’s trying to free his abducted pregnant wife, Léo (Stéphane Caillard), from a blackmailing thug.
—Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Times, 10 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for thug
Recent Examples of Synonyms for thug
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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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
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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
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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More news: Warner Bros Delays 'The Batman 2' For a Third Time One of Batman's biggest foes is Clayface, a villain who can mold his body into a multitude of devastating shapes.—
Josh Hammer,
Newsweek,
14 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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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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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
Noun
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When Jennifer Lawrence isn’t full-frontally beating the bejesus out of insouciant hoodlums, that is.—
Charles Bramesco,
Vulture,
10 Feb. 2025
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However, their dreams are threatened by the hoodlums in the Riverbottom Gang.—
EW.com,
EW.com,
30 Nov. 2024
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
Cite this Entry
“Thug.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/thug. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.
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