gallows birds

noun

plural of gallows bird
as in sinners

Related Words

Relevance

Dissimilar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for gallows birds
  1. sinners
  2. villains
  3. wrongdoers
  4. thugs
  5. gangsters
  6. mobsters
  7. hoodlums
  8. racketeers
Noun
  • On one page, tiny, antlike sinners tumbled down a cliff toward perdition.
    — Laura Preston, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026
  • That relationship was based on sinners confessing their sins to this vicar.
    — Pat Saperstein, Variety, 14 June 2026
Definition of sinners
Noun
  • The ’90s were an era of event villains, characters who came preinstalled with their own company-wide impact.
    — Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Anthony Hopkins has played villains and popes, presidents and dictators, titans of literature and comic book kings.
    — Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of villains
Noun
  • New York’s Bivens Act remedies this by extending the protections of Section 1983 to all individual government wrongdoers — including federal ones.
    — Joel B. Rudin, New York Daily News, 28 June 2026
  • The overpowering moral authority of wronged women, #MeToo’s skeptics alleged, would allow cynical wrongdoers to weaponize claims of victimhood for their own gain.
    — Moira Donegan, New Yorker, 9 June 2026
Definition of wrongdoers
Noun
  • The eponymous former assassin is drawn back into the game after some thugs (led by Alfie Allen) kill his dog and royally piss him off.
    — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Shortly after his big win, he’s attacked by two thugs in a parking garage.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 30 July 2026
Definition of thugs
Noun
  • The bodies start piling up – and business booms – but the growing enterprise puts the trio in the crosshairs of the powerful gangsters and underworld figures in the lawless border town of Saribgunj.
    — Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 17 Aug. 2026
  • Duane Keith Davis is accused of orchestrating Shakur’s killing in September 1996, and the lore of other rappers and gangsters looms large over his trial.
    — Aditi Sangal, CNN Money, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of gangsters
Noun
  • The plot against Zeraati is part of a widening campaign by the Iranian government which involves hiring criminals—Russian mobsters, Hells Angels bikers, and even Swedish teen-agers—to attack its detractors and sow fear among Iranians in exile.
    — Cora Engelbrecht, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2026
  • The new manager solved the Bang Records problem by walking into a Ninth Avenue warehouse and handing over $20,000 in cash to two mobsters dressed to the nines.
    — Ryan Craig, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of mobsters
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
  • 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

gallows bird
gallows birds
galls
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Gallows birds.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gallows%20birds. Accessed 31 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of gumption

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Why does English have so many silent letters?

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All