as in thug
a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang
London bobbies clearing the streets of hooligans
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Recent Examples of hooligan
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
As if to prove his point about support for environmental causes, Millwall fans, often lazily stereotyped as hooligans more interested in Green Street than going green, are proving how outdated such stereotypes are by leading one environmental league table.
—Steve Price, Forbes.com, 23 Apr. 2025
After the know-nothing county board opts to raze the baseball diamond to make way for a school, the teams meet for one final game at their beloved Soldier’s Field, with girlfriends, kids, and local hooligans as intermittent spectators.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hooligan
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
As if to prove his point about support for environmental causes, Millwall fans, often lazily stereotyped as hooligans more interested in Green Street than going green, are proving how outdated such stereotypes are by leading one environmental league table.
—Steve Price, Forbes.com, 23 Apr. 2025
After the know-nothing county board opts to raze the baseball diamond to make way for a school, the teams meet for one final game at their beloved Soldier’s Field, with girlfriends, kids, and local hooligans as intermittent spectators.
—Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 7 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hooligan
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hooligan
Noun
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At least being a thug is more lucrative than being a poet.—
Joan MacDonald,
Forbes.com,
2 Aug. 2025
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According to reporting from the Clermont Sun, Fike tweeted ‘#thug the new n word’ in April 2015 and ‘Thug life = thug treatment = no pity from me’ in July 2019.—
James Wilkins,
The Orlando Sentinel,
29 July 2025
Noun
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The Saturday Night Live alum, 31, and Beverly Hills Cop actor, 64, star in the action-comedy The Pickup as Travis and Russell, two security guards whose vehicle is hijacked by Zoe (Keke Palmer), a criminal on a mission to avenge her dad by robbing a casino.—
Rebecca Aizin,
People.com,
8 Aug. 2025
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Neighborhoods where residents get out and meet each other and know their law enforcement are safer and discourage criminals — that’s the thinking behind the National Night Out campaign.—
Heather McRea,
Oc Register,
7 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The book was about how his father chose conventional family values over the life of a gangster.—
Leonard Greene,
New York Daily News,
2 Aug. 2025
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That audio clip has been shared some 60,000 times on TikTok, often by Venezuelans ridiculing the notion that everybody from their country is a gangster.—
ProPublica,
ProPublica,
23 July 2025
Noun
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But Palm Beach County’s friendly neighborhood sugar cane barons might yet make out like bandits.—
Pat Beall,
The Orlando Sentinel,
27 July 2025
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And the cast, in particular Clement as Pure Evil and Lisa Kudrow as the time bandits’ leader, Penelope, were all having a great time, giving the series an infectiously gleeful energy.—
Vulture Editors,
Vulture,
23 July 2025
Noun
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Temuera Morrison plays a terrific villain as the murderous King Kahekili.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
16 Aug. 2025
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Year: 2009 Director: Tony Scott Runtime: 1h 44m A remake of the 1974 subway-hijack thriller is inferior in just about every way, particularly with its villain, played by a way-too-jacked-up John Travolta.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
15 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Whereas the Star Wars sequels woefully misused the actor's talents, this movie puts them center stage, playing one of the teen hoodlums who join forces with their victim to fight off nasty, otherworldly invaders.—
Chris Snellgrove,
EW.com,
12 Aug. 2025
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Let the bromance begin, as Derringer and Clarke squabble their way back to the Western world, punching out hoodlums and escaping to Poland in the back of a livestock truck.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
2 July 2025
Noun
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Learn all about the many groups, from Native Americans to Spanish pirates to English settlers to wealthy cotton planters to enslaved people, who have lived on the island and influenced its development at the Edisto Island Museum.—
Tara Massouleh McCay,
Southern Living,
6 Aug. 2025
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John Cleese shows up as a pirate and tries to make a call from a payphone on the ship, while his parrot, who is in love with him, gripes that Cleese is neglecting her and should take her to dinner with all his doubloons.—
Sophie Brickman,
The Atlantic,
4 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hooligan.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hooligan. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.
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