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

• 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

Gallagher has previously apologized for a homophobic tweet about Russian soccer hooligans, for posting a death threat to an Atletico Madrid player, and for insulting Coldplay, and has deleted other posts over the years, including one containing an ableist slur. —Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 4 July 2025

Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister, had already run out of patience with the football authorities for not doing more to control the hooligans. —Richard Sutcliffe, New York Times, 10 May 2025

There’s a little bit of fear now, of people losing control, of hooligans. —Dermot Corrigan, New York Times, 19 May 2025

More menacingly, anti-Semitic Polish-nationalist hooligans have mounting success enforcing a boycott against Jewish merchants in villages across the region. —Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 16 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

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

First Known Use

1896, 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