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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Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of thug
The Romans liked to give the appearance of civilized rule by getting local thugs to do their dirty work.
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N.t. Wright, TIME, 20 Dec. 2024
Meanwhile, she is being eyed lasciviously by neighborhood thug Abdelkhalik (Aymen Ben Hmida), the abusive husband of her friend Naima (Sana Ben Cheikh Larbi).
—Alissa Simon, Variety, 18 Dec. 2024
After breezing by Swordmaster Keiran and apparently torturing a smuggler (off-screen, fortunately), Desmond and his armed thugs hit the imperial city’s hottest club.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 15 Dec. 2024
Long maintaining that the protesters are just thugs, Najmeh painfully removes the rounds from Sadaf’s bleeding wounds, her assumptions about the government she’s loyally obeyed falling away.
—Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 28 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for thug 
N.t. Wright, TIME, 20 Dec. 2024
Meanwhile, she is being eyed lasciviously by neighborhood thug Abdelkhalik (Aymen Ben Hmida), the abusive husband of her friend Naima (Sana Ben Cheikh Larbi).
—Alissa Simon, Variety, 18 Dec. 2024
After breezing by Swordmaster Keiran and apparently torturing a smuggler (off-screen, fortunately), Desmond and his armed thugs hit the imperial city’s hottest club.
—Keith Phipps, Vulture, 15 Dec. 2024
Long maintaining that the protesters are just thugs, Najmeh painfully removes the rounds from Sadaf’s bleeding wounds, her assumptions about the government she’s loyally obeyed falling away.
—Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times, 28 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for thug
Recent Examples of Synonyms for thug
Noun
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The 1930s was a gangster number with 12 showgirls coming out of a 1936 Rolls Royce.Ingrid Schmidt, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Dec. 2024
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The gangster rap which surrounded me was problematic in a number of ways.Jon Hochschartner, Hartford Courant, 18 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Murder on Music Row, an investigative podcast from The Tennessean, focuses on the 1989 murder of country music chart director Kevin Hughes, who tried to operate with integrity in a business full of sharks and criminals.Keith Sharon, The Tennessean, 20 Dec. 2024
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A lot of criminals when confronted with the potential of being bitten by a police canine immediately surrender.Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 19 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Peter Dinklage rolls both hero and villain into his performance as Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf who uses intelligence to overcome prejudice.Paul Du Quenoy, Newsweek, 1 Jan. 2025
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Still, the character is now available to play the hero or the villain in a slasher film — a la Winnie the Pooh — if some enterprising filmmaker wants to take advantage of the fair use.Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 1 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Fans of high-octane thrills can kick off the year with Colombiana, starring Zoe Saldaña as a fierce assassin on a mission of vengeance, or the Rush Hour trilogy, where Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan bring laughter and action to the buddy-cop genre.Okla Jones, Essence, 30 Dec. 2024
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His role is a mere cameo though, as de Armas takes the lead, starring as an assassin in her own right set to avenge the deaths of her family.Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY, 30 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Police said the bowling bandit cut a large hole in the roof of Lanes Trains and Automobiles in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and rappelled down a rope to get inside.Bradford Betz, Fox News, 12 Nov. 2024
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Guided by Kudrow’s Penelope, the bandits embarked on epic adventures while evil forces were an obstacle.Marc Berman, Forbes, 16 Sep. 2024
Noun
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The co-owner of a Texas pizza restaurant came up with an impressive idea to replace employees' tips after thieves ran off with their money over the holidays.Becca Longmire, People.com, 31 Dec. 2024
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The company plans to weld it shut so that would-be thieves would have to break open a highly radioactive system to get at the weapon-ready material.Emily Waltz, IEEE Spectrum, 30 Dec. 2024
Noun
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However, their dreams are threatened by the hoodlums in the Riverbottom Gang.EW.com, EW.com, 30 Nov. 2024
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While Muhammad Ali made his professional boxing comeback with a win against Jerry Quarry at Atlanta’s Municipal Auditorium on October 26, 1970, a group of hoodlums robbed the Black Mafia of more than $1 million in cash and jewelry at a nearby after-party.Bill Desowitz, IndieWire, 6 Sep. 2024
Noun
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Disney's Treasure Planet is a fantastical re-imagining of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel Treasure Island, focused on space pirates setting out to track down a world filled with treasure.Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 23 Dec. 2024
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Better to stick with the Bogie and Bacall babies and the Park Slope pirates.Sara Holdren, Vulture, 22 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near thug
Cite this Entry
“Thug.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/thug. Accessed 9 Jan. 2025.
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