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gangsters

noun

plural of gangster
as in thugs
a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang Al Capone remains one of the most notorious gangsters in American history

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of gangsters British gangsters colliding with the Italian Mafia just feels so right for our world. — Connor Sturges, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Sep. 2026 Live actors would appear throughout, sometimes as gangsters in a noir crime movie, and sometimes as Wild West cowboys. — Julie Tremaine, PEOPLE, 3 Sep. 2026 Kennedy’s Albany is a vital, violent place, a hothouse of gangsters, pool hustlers, bums, crooked politicians, and showgirls. — Cynthia Zarin, Harpers Magazine, 1 Sep. 2026 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 Especially when the protagonists are fighting gangsters, offensive editors, twitchy Vatican librarians, and an oversized Jason Momoa, to claim the hand of Gal Gadot’s two characters, one in the present, one in the past. — A.d. Amorosi, SPIN, 6 Aug. 2026 Badly in Love manages to break through because the cast of men and women looking for true love are from the Japanese yankii subculture—juvenile delinquents, motorcycle gangsters, troubled women, and more. — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 31 July 2026 Remember all those fake memoirs from the early 2000s, by all those writers pretending to be addicts and gangsters and Holocaust survivors? — James Parker, The Atlantic, 20 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gangsters
  1. thugs
  2. criminals
  3. villains
  4. bandits
  5. assassins
  6. pirates
  7. mobsters
Noun
  • That a Christian man was responsible for the devastation in Oklahoma City certainly didn’t matter to the thugs who terrorized a Muslim woman there, nearly seven months pregnant, by attacking her home, breaking her windows, screaming religious slurs.
    — Reshma Memon Yaqub, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026
  • Some of the thugs were actual neo-Nazis, led by real-life Russian fascist Maksim Martsinkevich, who would later be imprisoned for posting racist videos, investigated for murder and, in 2020, found dead in his cell of an apparent suicide.
    — Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2026
Definition of thugs
Noun
  • Now federal investigators say criminals turned that everyday habit into a way to steal bank logins and drain accounts.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 20 Sep. 2026
  • Trump, his family and his wealthy cronies are criminals spending taxpayers’ money and taking it with their underhanded deals with our enemies.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 18 Sep. 2026
Definition of criminals
Noun
  • Different characters — villains and helpers — pop up along his journey, as well as different tools and weapons.
    — Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 18 Sep. 2026
  • But Zidar and Zwick are more interested in understanding them than in portraying them as heroes or villains.
    — Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of villains
Noun
  • When a wealthy, royal woman is attacked by bandits, the two men save her and are welcomed to the castle as valiant knights.
    — Jourdain Searles, HollywoodReporter, 18 Sep. 2026
  • Elsewhere, a gang of highway bandits cons an unsuspecting family into stopping by the roadside, only to violently kill them, burn their bodies, and strip their car for parts.
    — Siddhant Adlakha, IndieWire, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of bandits
Noun
  • Some earlier assassins expected it of themselves, canceling plots that would have killed bystanders.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Sep. 2026
  • The settler assassins were arrested by the police and as usual released within a few hours.
    — David Shulman, The New York Review of Books, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of assassins
Noun
  • Within hours, their yacht vanishes, Matt is abducted by a gang of ruthless pirates led by Langbore (Copley), and paradise becomes a trap.
    — Alex Ritman, Variety, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Knights in shining armor, pirates and princesses grace the grounds of Sleepy Hollow for the annual Renaissance Faire in Des Moines.
    — Kyle Werner, Des Moines Register, 6 Sep. 2026
Definition of pirates
Noun
  • The aging mobsters are out of control, and Harry is control incarnate.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 17 Sep. 2026
  • 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
Definition of mobsters

Browse Nearby Words

gangsterism
gangsters
gangs up
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Gangsters.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gangsters. Accessed 23 Sep. 2026.

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