hooligan

noun

hoo·​li·​gan ˈhü-li-gən 

plural hooligans

: a usually young man who engages in rowdy or violent behavior especially as part of a group or gang : ruffian, hoodlum

We had four great beefy hooligans on to us when Linton got his tooth knocked out.

—P. G. Wodehouse

"At school I ran with the hooligans and tried to act tough."

—John Keen

More recently the tabloid press dubbed English football hooligans "lager louts" as if it was the fizzy beer that was the problem rather than that many supporters were more interested in fighting than football.

—Henry Jeffreys

Synonyms of hooligan

• thug
• criminal
• gangster
• bandit
• villain
• hoodlum
• pirate

Examples of hooligan in a Sentence

London bobbies clearing the streets of hooligans

Recent Examples on the Web

And who would be harshing this hooligan’s buzz with a case of reform-minded abduction? —Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 2026

Follows 19-year-old hooligan Tommy (Boon), who revels in a life of drugs, parties and violence. —Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 6 Mar. 2026

The activist first came to prominence as co-founder of the English Defense League, a protest organization that vowed opposition to Islam and intermingled with the country’s soccer hooligan scene. —Alexander Smith, NBC news, 26 Feb. 2026

Violence in European soccer has subsided; English hooligans now seem almost quaint. —Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 23 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

perhaps from Patrick Hooligan who flourished in 1896 as an Irish hoodlum in Southwark, London

First Known Use

1894, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

hooligan

noun

hoo·​li·​gan ˈhü-li-gən 

: hoodlum sense 2

Etymology

perhaps from the name of Patrick Hooligan, an Irish hoodlum who lived in London around 1898