gang

noun \ ˈgaŋ \

Updated on: 10 Apr 2018

Definition of gang

1 : group: such as

a : a group of persons working to unlawful or antisocial ends; especially : a band of antisocial adolescents

b : a group of persons working together

2 : a group of persons having informal and usually close social relations

watching TV with the gang

3 a : a set of articles : outfit

a gang of oars

b : a combination of similar implements or devices arranged for convenience to act together

a gang of saws

See gang defined for English-language learners

See gang defined for kids

Examples of gang in a Sentence

a gang of drug dealers
He is in a gang.
He was shot by a member of a rival gang.
the gang at the office

Recent Examples of gang from the Web

Devonte Lockett, 18, was charged Thursday with the murder of Tristian Hutchins, who died March 28 after being caught in the crossfire of a March 1 shooting that Houston Police say was gang related.

— robert downen, Houston Chronicle, "No bond for Houston teen charged with 8-year-old's shooting death," 7 Apr. 2018
The Guardian’s exploration of the rise of America’s white gangs is a must-read.

— aubrey nagle, Philly.com, "Kapler booed at Phillies home opener, Villanova champs join parade, bike lane debate continues | Morning Newsletter," 6 Apr. 2018
On most days more than a dozen Salvadoreans lost their lives to gang warfare, police shootings and domestic disputes.

— The Economist, "Shining light on Latin America’s homicide epidemic," 5 Apr. 2018
In addition, Title 10 has for decades been used to federally fund military groups fighting transnational gangs that attempt to cross U.S. borders, according to a 2012 Government Accountability Office report.

— NBC News, "Does Trump have the power to send National Guard troops to the border?," 5 Apr. 2018
King also held that even those presently involved in the underground economy or in gangs could become vital partners.

— time staff, Time, "10 Historians on What People Still Don't Know About Martin Luther King Jr.," 4 Apr. 2018
While lots of criminal hacking gangs are simply out to make money, researchers regard FIN7 as a particularly professional and disciplined organization.

— lily hay newman, WIRED, "The Billion-Dollar Hacking Group Behind a String of Big Breaches," 4 Apr. 2018
After facing a lawsuit last year over allegations that there was no evidence some youth in the facility had gang ties, Chief Probation Officer Brent Cardall asked the board to terminate the contract.

— ellen garrison, sacbee, "Yolo County decides to reduce, not scrap, contract for undocumented youth | The Sacramento Bee," 3 Apr. 2018
Agents in Pittsburgh, for example, have found drug gangs that traditionally peddled narcotics smuggled from beyond the southern border are now also selling drugs from China online, said Shawn A. Brokos, a supervisory special agent there.

— CBS News, "It's easy to buy opioids on the so-called darknet, FBI says," 3 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gang.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of gang

Middle English, "going, journey, road, path, privy, group of items forming a set," going back to Old English, "going, walking, journey, course, path, privy," going back to Germanic *ganga- (whence Old Saxon gang "walk, course," Old High German "walk, journey, passage," Old Norse gangr "going, course," Gothic gagg "way"), noun derivative from the base of *gangan- "to go" — more at ³gang

Note: The meaning "set of articles" apparently first appeared in Middle English, the now predominant meaning "group of persons" in early Modern English (hypothesized instances of this sense in Middle and Old English are dubious). A direct descendant of Old English gang in Modern English would be gong (with the effects of vowel lengthening before the cluster -ŋg- and subsequent rounding of the long vowel in monosyllables), but this survived into Modern English only in the sense "privy"—the now general form gang for other senses was borrowed into standard English from northern dialects and Scots, where rounding never occurred. Use of both the noun and verb gang in its historical senses, denoting motion or passage, is now largely limited to traditional Scots.

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

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gang Synonyms

Synonyms

body, bunch, circle, clan, clique, community, coterie, coven, crowd, fold, lot, network, pack, ring, set;

Related Words

charmed circle, elite, in-group;

club, college, fellowship, guild (also gild), league, organization, society;

camp, faction, sect, side, tribe;

mess, squad;

brotherhood, fraternity, order, sisterhood, sodality, sorority;

commune;

alliance, bloc, coalition, confederation, congress, council, federation, union;

gang

verb

Definition of gang

transitive verb

1 a : to assemble or operate simultaneously as a group

b : to arrange in or produce as a gang

2 : to attack in a gang

Hoodlums ganged him and took his money.

intransitive verb

: to move or act as a gang

Her opponents ganged together to oppose her nomination.

— see also gang up

Recent Examples of gang from the Web

A few days after the review appeared online, Troemel posted a side-by-side comparison and his supporters swiftly expressed their alarm over the similarity, in some cases, ganging up on Gazinskaya.

— amy verner, Vogue, "Catching Up With Vika Gazinskaya and Brad Troemel in the Wake of Fashion’s Latest Copying Debate," 13 July 2017
Backup quarterback Tyler Hilinski’s red zone series ended abruptly when defensive linemen Dan Ekuale and Hercules Mata’afa ganged up to deny tailback Gerard Wicks passage over the goal line.

— stefanie loh, The Seattle Times, "WSU practice notes: Mike Leach says, ‘We’re getting a little more consistent’," 6 Aug. 2017
Sometimes multiple guardians of the English language will gang up, employing ridicule through bad cop-bad cop ridiculing tactics.

— by emily parnell, kansascity.com, "Grammar police, do us a favor and put a sock in it," 20 June 2017
The new version faces contemporary challenges: Many species featured in the original are now considered endangered and Marvel’s Wolverine and Wolfsbane are always ganging up on our hero.

— bill keveney, USA TODAY, "Naywatch: Stop breaking 'CHiPs' off the old TV block," 13 June 2017
Residents should gang up and notify the St. Charles Police Department at 630-377-4435.

— Aurora Beacon-News, "St. Charles warns about electric services scams," 3 July 2017
In April, Gianforte joked about ganging up on a reporter at town hall with hundreds of supporters.

— kurtis lee, latimes.com, "Who is Greg Gianforte? In Montana, the Republican's outburst against reporter came as little surprise," 25 May 2017

Origin and Etymology of gang

derivative of ¹gang

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1791

See Words from the same year

gang

verb

Definition of gang

intransitive verb

Scotland

: go

Origin and Etymology of gang

Middle English gangen, gongen & early Scots gang, going back to Old English gangan, gongan, going back to Germanic *gangan- (whence Old Saxon & Old High German gangan"to go," Old Norse ganga, Gothic gaggan), probably going back to Indo-European *ǵhenǵh-i̯̯e-, whence also Lithuanian žeñgti "to stride"

Note: Old English gangan, a Class VII strong verb, was used more or less as a synonym of gān, the ancestor of Modern English ¹go (itself descended from Germanic *gēn-), though forms other than the present tense and infinitive rarely occur. In other Germanic languages cognates of gangan served and still serve as suppletive forms of the parallel cognates of gān. Compare note at ¹gang.

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: before 12th century

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GANG Defined for English Language Learners

gang

noun

Definition of gang for English Language Learners

: a group of criminals
: a group of young people who do illegal things together and who often fight against other gangs
: a group of people who are friends and who do things together