gang

noun

\ ˈgaŋ

Definition of gang

(Entry 1 of 3)

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

3a : 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

gang

verb (1)

ganged; ganging; gangs

Definition of gang (Entry 2 of 3)

transitive verb

1a : 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

gang

verb (2)

ganged; ganging; gangs

Definition of gang (Entry 3 of 3)

intransitive verb

Scotland

: go

Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about gang

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Examples of gang in a Sentence

Noun

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 on the Web: Noun

That effort descended into violence when state security and armed gangs loyal to Mr. Maduro... — Ryan Dube, WSJ, "Venezuelan Opposition Leader’s Return From Colombia to Spell Showdown With President," 27 Feb. 2019 Human rights groups say some of those deaths appear to be targeted slayings by the National Police Action Force, or FAES, an elite commando unit created in 2017 for anti-gang operations. — Fabiola Sanchez, The Seattle Times, "Deadly crackdown stokes fear among protesters in Venezuela," 20 Feb. 2019 During the genocide, Verena’s husband was killed; Verena was gang-raped by a Hutu militia at the same time as her first daughter, who then passed away after giving birth. — Caterina Clerici & Eléonore Hamelin, Marie Claire, "Rwanda's Future Is Female," 1 Feb. 2019 Many of the migrants in the caravan are from Honduras, where poverty, gangs and violence are factors that cause many to leave. — Becky Bohrer, The Seattle Times, "US Rep Young in debate likens migrant caravan to invasion," 26 Oct. 2018 Historically, Marseille has been infamous for its gangs and violence, but renovation efforts are pushing to make the seediness give way to sunniness. — Danielle Fox, ELLE Decor, "At the Nhow Marseille Hotel in France, Italian Furniture and Local Grit Lead the Design," 22 Oct. 2018 Above, Yoon shares snaps from the evening, including moments with her girl gang and Mr. Kim Jones. — Edward Barsamian, Vogue, "Ambush Designer Yoon Brings Her Avant Garde Eye to Dior Beauty’s Latest Launch," 27 Sep. 2018 But there are also gangs and other forms of conflicts that are happening that people do not often count. — Tamara Fuentes, Seventeen, "10 Interesting Facts About Malala Yousafzai from Her New Book “We Are Displaced”," 10 Jan. 2019 Rodriguez spoke out against the gang and the local school district after Cuevas and Mickens were attacked with machetes and baseball bats. — Michael R. Sisak, Fox News, "Mother of suspected MS-13 victim remembered as 'warrior'," 21 Sep. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Such engines can run solo but are typically ganged together in groups of two to four. — Dan Neil, WSJ, "Skip the Seasickness: How Boats Are Getting More Tech-Savvy," 28 June 2018 Gyrostabilization is used in commercial shipping, military vessels and cost-is-no-object megayachts, and the devices are easily ganged together. — Dan Neil, WSJ, "Skip the Seasickness: How Boats Are Getting More Tech-Savvy," 28 June 2018 If a small majority (or even a large majority) of owners could gang together to reduce their percentage and raise others’, that would be neither fair nor honest. — Benny L. Kass, chicagotribune.com, "Must owners without gardens chip in for association landscaping costs?," 15 Nov. 2017 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

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.

History and Etymology for gang

Noun

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 gang entry 3

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.

Verb (1)

derivative of gang entry 1

Verb (2)

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 go entry 1 (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 gang entry 1.