hooligan

noun

hoo·​li·​gan ˈhü-li-gən How to pronounce hooligan (audio)
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

Examples of hooligan in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Sure, there were the local drunks, the teenage hooligans who tortured stray cats, but even these wayward bees had a place in the hive. Alexander Nazaryan, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2024 What occurred on Saturday, ahead of Remembrance Day, was that right-wing protesters and soccer hooligans clashed with the Metropolitan Police at the Cenotaph in London, where Remembrance Day is observed. Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 13 Nov. 2023 Israeli media reports attributed the disturbance to a high-profile group of soccer hooligans, but NBC News has not verified the reports. Matteo Moschella, NBC News, 12 Oct. 2023 As McCarthy’s untamed hooligans steer the ship of state toward the chop, Democrats would be wise to stick with this instinct. Jason Linkins, The New Republic, 4 Nov. 2023 In their place is Rally, which sits at the tail-out hooligan end of the spectrum, atop Strada (street), Sport, and Corsa (track). Dan Edmunds, Car and Driver, 1 May 2023 The Britons here are not the hooligans who occasionally get blanket bans from foreign cities hosting U.K. soccer teams for fear of violent clashes. David Segal, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2023 Some hooligans did ultimately commit war crimes in the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, but that is not what Blattman argues. Bridget L. Coggins, Foreign Affairs, 19 Apr. 2022 But an encounter on the road with a couple of hooligans leads instead to a courtroom in Detroit, where Raylan gives testimony and Willa is chastised by tetchy Judge Alvin Guy (Keith David, sonorous as always) for laughing at cat videos on her phone. Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 17 July 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hooligan.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Time Traveler
The first known use of hooligan was in 1896

Dictionary Entries Near hooligan

Cite this Entry

“Hooligan.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hooligan. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

hooligan

noun
hoo·​li·​gan ˈhü-li-gən How to pronounce hooligan (audio)
Etymology

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

More from Merriam-Webster on hooligan

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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