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

Trump allied himself with the cops over the protesters, warned of the murderous gangs sweeping through urban America, and called for a total ban on Muslim travel to and from the country. — Ezra Klein, Vox, "How identity politics elected Donald Trump," 5 Nov. 2018 Parcak talks about the different categories of looters, ranging from locals who occasionally loot to ease their grinding poverty to organized gangs, which show up with bulldozers, machine guns, and large work crews. — Rob Reid, Ars Technica, "Ars on your lunch break: Finding Pharaoh and spotting looters from orbit," 1 Nov. 2018 The struggles of the gang, personal relationships, future dreams, the constant encroachment of civilization. — Andrew Webster, The Verge, "Red Dead Redemption 2 is the most convincing open-world game ever made," 25 Oct. 2018 More shots are shown of the gang, including one of Varchie in bed, interesting due to the many reports that the couple will have some issues in the upcoming season. — Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, "Hidden Clues from the New "Riverdale" Season 3 Trailer That You Probably Missed," 29 Aug. 2018 Some changes: The setting is Atlanta, rather than Harlem; Priest’s antagonists now include a rival gang called Snow Patrol; and there’s Mexican cartel involved. — Kristen Page-kirby, kansascity, "‘SuperFly’ makes a decent but unnecessary return," 14 June 2018 Seven deputies were fired in 2013 after an investigation into the Jump Out Boys, a group of gang enforcement officers who were accused of glorifying shootings by deputies. — Joel Rubin, latimes.com, "After decades of problems, new allegations surface of a secret clique within L.A. County Sheriff's Department," 10 July 2018 An eleventh suspect was arrested last Friday and charged with murder, manslaughter and gang assault in the June 20 death of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz. — Fox News, "12th suspect arrested in death of teen killed in gang attack," 10 July 2018 Human rights monitors for the U.N. found that at least 120 women and girls were raped or gang-raped between April 16 and May 24. — Cara Anna, The Seattle Times, "Gang-rapes, lynchings: UN tallies latest South Sudan abuses," 10 July 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.