gang

noun

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\ 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 Peralta had a tattoo of a crown on his chest that Amaya-Ramirez believed was a symbol of the Latin Kings gang, a rival to MS-13. — Anna Giaritelli, Washington Examiner, "Ten suspected MS-13 gang members charged in murder, crime plots in New York," 15 May 2020 Most of the parents of the old gang were still in residence, Jerry and Anne included. — Thomas Beller, The New Yorker, "A Few Words About Jerry Stiller," 12 May 2020 Those enhancements, which Boudin has effectively ended by making it his department's policy not to file them, according to The Appeal, tack extra time onto the sentences of people who are convicted of committing crimes on behalf of gangs. — Fox News, "San Fran DA touts liberal reforms in campaign email: End to cash bail, no sentence enhancements for gang crime," 11 May 2020 In the Netflix crime drama All Day and a Night, Ashton Sanders plays the soft-spoken Jahkor Abraham Lincoln who struggles to keep his dream of rapping alive amidst a gang war in Oakland. — Clark Collis, EW.com, "All Day and a Night," 21 Apr. 2020 With each day possibly being their last thanks to a recent gang war, the series showcases a group of teens that are usually never seen on TV. — Tamara Fuentes, Seventeen, "20 Best Teen TV Shows of All Time That You Need to Watch ASAP," 21 Feb. 2020 Cruz was wrongly blamed for bumping into a member of the Latin Kings gang during the party. — Christina Carrega, ABC News, "Man's case becomes 268th tossed conviction in state's history," 12 Feb. 2020 Its owner confronts the black community, threatening a gang war. — Thomas Page, CNN, "Get up to speed on this year's Oscar nominees for best international feature film," 7 Feb. 2020 On the night Kelly was being arrested in Memphis, 10 members of the future Dillinger gang were escaping from a Michigan City, Indiana, prison. — Matthew Glenesk, Indianapolis Star, "Gator Bowl Tale of the Tape: Which state wins Indiana vs. Tennessee?," 31 Dec. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Verb For Nirbhaya's mother, justice is death for the men who gang raped her daughter. — Vedika Sud, CNN, "OPINION: Four men have been executed over a rape and murder. It's no victory for women," 19 Mar. 2020 Jang features in the names of many quintessential Korean ingredients, such as ganging (soy sauce), gochujang (chili paste) and doenjang (soybean paste). — Katie Workman, NBC News, "Love Korean food? Here's what to stock in your pantry to make it at home," 8 Mar. 2020 And yet the oscillators responded differently to identical conditions, some ganging together while the rest went their own way, as if not coupled to anything at all. — Natalie Wolchover, WIRED, "The Math of How Crickets, Starlings, and Neurons Sync Up," 7 Apr. 2019 And yet the oscillators responded differently to identical conditions, some ganging together while the rest went their own way, as if not coupled to anything at all. — Natalie Wolchover, WIRED, "The Math of How Crickets, Starlings, and Neurons Sync Up," 7 Apr. 2019 And yet the oscillators responded differently to identical conditions, some ganging together while the rest went their own way, as if not coupled to anything at all. — Natalie Wolchover, WIRED, "The Math of How Crickets, Starlings, and Neurons Sync Up," 7 Apr. 2019 And yet the oscillators responded differently to identical conditions, some ganging together while the rest went their own way, as if not coupled to anything at all. — Natalie Wolchover, WIRED, "The Math of How Crickets, Starlings, and Neurons Sync Up," 7 Apr. 2019 This inexplicably trendy office design has employees ganged together in close quarters, sharing rows of desks and workstations, with no physical boundaries or privacy. — Jonas Downey, Quartz at Work, "How my colleagues and I stay sane in our open office," 22 Aug. 2019 And yet the oscillators responded differently to identical conditions, some ganging together while the rest went their own way, as if not coupled to anything at all. — Natalie Wolchover, WIRED, "The Math of How Crickets, Starlings, and Neurons Sync Up," 7 Apr. 2019

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.

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