button men

noun

plural of button man
as in gangsters

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for button men
  1. gangsters
  2. hoodlums
  3. mobsters
  4. racketeers
Noun
  • In each, the protagonist(s) will be sought by both police and gangsters yet will lose their own money and have to get along without any while on the run.
    — Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times, 15 July 2026
  • In Gosha’s case, that involves getting mixed up with gangsters at a seedy nightclub, a sequence that quickly deteriorates from being mildly comical to sinister to outright terrifying by even degrees.
    — Leslie Felperin, HollywoodReporter, 14 July 2026
Definition of gangsters
Noun
  • In the past decade, the leadership of the Kinahan organization has become rich and cosmopolitan, and their life styles have started to resemble those of international businessmen more than of street hoodlums.
    — Ed Caesar, New Yorker, 30 Apr. 2026
  • The first pictures McCullin took were of hoodlums and down-and-outs, subjects that reflected his own hardscrabble background.
    — Andrew Pulver, Air Mail, 31 Jan. 2026
Definition of hoodlums
Noun
  • In Breaking Bear, a family of furry forest dwellers use everything in their power — including high explosives and drug money — to fight the frackers, mobsters, and a monstrous wolf pack threatening to destroy their home.
    — Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 25 June 2026
  • But in April 2005, following an investigation dubbed Operation Family Secrets, 14 Chicago mobsters were charged with 18 then-as-yet-unsolved murders — including those of the Spilotros.
    — Adam Harrington, CBS News, 23 June 2026
Definition of mobsters
Noun
  • Of course, entrusting waste management to gangsters and racketeers has repercussions.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 8 July 2026
  • The characters were based on a real family of bookmakers and racketeers who once lived in England.
    — Sarah Moore, Freep.com, 5 Mar. 2026
Definition of racketeers
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

button man
button men
butt (on or against)
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Cite this Entry

“Button men.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/button%20men. Accessed 19 Jul. 2026.

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