as in thug
a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang
the argument that the DEA needs to focus more on the kingpins of the drug trade and less on the gangbangers in the street
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Recent Examples of gangbanger
The video, which was played for Lefkow on Tuesday, showed an unidentified man standing out at 26th Street and Spauling Avenue asking where all the gangbangers were.
—
Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune, 20 Jan. 2026
Who signed off on gangbanger LaMar Cook being granted access to ship eight pounds of blow directly to Maura’s office suite in Springfield, as well as another 19 pounds of coke to a hotel on the UMass-Amherst campus?
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 29 Nov. 2025
Murdered within about six months of each other at the height of their fame in the 1990s, their deaths spawned conspiracy theories of hitmen, coverups and cops on gangbangers’ payrolls.
—Veronica Bravo, USA Today, 7 Sep. 2025
The indictment against the gangbangers, which was unsealed on June 16, follows a Fox News Digital report from April revealing that local leaders were sounding the alarm about the 18th Street Gang sweeping in to take control of the area.
—Michael Dorgan, FOXNews.com, 10 July 2025
Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune, 20 Jan. 2026
Who signed off on gangbanger LaMar Cook being granted access to ship eight pounds of blow directly to Maura’s office suite in Springfield, as well as another 19 pounds of coke to a hotel on the UMass-Amherst campus?
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 29 Nov. 2025
Murdered within about six months of each other at the height of their fame in the 1990s, their deaths spawned conspiracy theories of hitmen, coverups and cops on gangbangers’ payrolls.
—Veronica Bravo, USA Today, 7 Sep. 2025
The indictment against the gangbangers, which was unsealed on June 16, follows a Fox News Digital report from April revealing that local leaders were sounding the alarm about the 18th Street Gang sweeping in to take control of the area.
—Michael Dorgan, FOXNews.com, 10 July 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gangbanger
Noun
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Pinell’s second film after Kiss and Cry, Shana stars her regular collaborator Éva Huault as a woman in her thirties navigating dead-end jobs, drug deals and an impossible relationship with a toxic thug, Moïse.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
14 Apr. 2026
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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the religious gestapo thugs who ran the country were not only committed in the name of Allah to destroying Israel, the Little Satan, and the United States, the Big Satan, but western civilization as well.—
Peter Lucas,
Boston Herald,
13 Apr. 2026
Noun
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That’s before Morgan steals a necklace from a chintzy gift shop run by a Turkish gangster named Yusuf, who proceeds to kidnap the pair, intimidate them at gunpoint, and threaten their family, forcing them to perform an array of odd jobs to make up for the petty theft.—
Inkoo Kang,
New Yorker,
9 Apr. 2026
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Longtime collaborators Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro reunited for this 2019 gangster epic, about the real-life hitman Frank Sheeran and his experiences working for the Mafia.—
Kevin Jacobsen,
Entertainment Weekly,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The scheme is designed to identify suspected criminals, combat identity fraud, and to police the EU's limit on 90-day stays within a 180-day period, according to the European Commission.—
Emma Clarke,
Condé Nast Traveler,
10 Apr. 2026
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Rex Heuermann, the man known as the Gilgo Beach killer, admitted to killing eight women over a span of decades, and the FBI is now looking into what motivated the 62-year-old to carry out his crimes to help capture other criminals in the future.—
Matt Lavietes,
NBC news,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Like a cartoon villain, though, Paula kicks up the edge of the carpet, which causes poor Miriam to make a dog’s dinner of afternoon tea.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
15 Apr. 2026
-
Nemesis achieves a lot, introducing a dangerous new villain that even the mighty Asgard fear, while ramping up the tension for a suitably dramatic season finale.—
Daryl Baxter,
Space.com,
14 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Their efforts lead them in the season’s last two episodes to Paris, where Frank was planning to celebrate his 80th birthday with his children — only for him to be gunned down in a hotel lobby by an assassin who had been sent to kill Teddy for a deal gone wrong.—
Max Gao,
Variety,
11 Apr. 2026
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Neither of these two is necessarily a lip-sync assassin.—
Jason P. Frank,
Vulture,
11 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Williams hadn’t qualified but jumped in as a bandit – a practice that is prohibited now but happened more regularly back then (although it was frowned upon).—
Lori Riley,
Hartford Courant,
19 Apr. 2026
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An unusual theft at a Pennsylvania Wawa has police going bananas for a pair of potassium bandits.—
Fernando Cervantes Jr,
USA Today,
8 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Gangbanger.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gangbanger. Accessed 22 Apr. 2026.
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