mugging 1 of 2

mugging

2 of 2

verb

present participle of mug
1
2
as in photographing
to take a photograph of mugging captured criminals for the police records

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 mugging
Noun
Is a 1-game suspension enough for the mugging? Zach Dean Outkick, FOXNews.com, 26 June 2026 While investigating this incident, CPD also learned that a shot was fired during a mugging, also in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Adam Harrington, CBS News, 7 June 2026 There’s a whole plotline about Dzanielle’s desire to get a status dog walker named Yuki, who costs $1,500 a week, and another around a Birkin mugging. Elise Taylor, Vanity Fair, 11 May 2026 An immigrant delivery man bashed unconscious during a botched four-on-one Manhattan mugging died of his injuries months later, cops said Sunday. Rebecca White, New York Daily News, 15 Feb. 2026 That was the only way to see countries' delegations backflipping and mean-mugging from places like Cortina and Livigno, sort of alternating with the parade in Milan. Pien Huang, NPR, 6 Feb. 2026 Staged to look like a random mugging of a courier, the robbery was, in fact, a sophisticated heist that would ultimately involve the Provisional IRA, the New York mafia and the Colombian cartel. Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 9 Oct. 2025 The mugging of his early selfies has vanished. David Kamp, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2025 This lawyer-mugging could go without any response today. U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Aug. 2025
Verb
Mean-mugging white classmates who, in turn, were sheepish and chastened. Anne Haley, Time, 11 Aug. 2026 And yet, Simon Farnaby is perhaps most recognizable for mugging his rather expressive and jovial face, usually beneath a crop of untamed curly hair, across a series of scene-stealing comic cameos. Alex Ritman, Variety, 7 Aug. 2026 These are pictures of everyone competing at the tournament, wearing their nation’s kit, usually posing pretty seriously, but occasionally mugging for the camera. Nick Miller, New York Times, 12 June 2026 Anticipating that someone might tip off TMZ about his presence at Disney World, the Republican Florida senator Rick Scott posted a photo of himself mugging for the camera there. Paula Mejía, New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2026 Noem seemed to relish cruelty, and treated her job like a costume party, constantly mugging for cameras with guns and faux toughness as if the dismantling of lives and imprisoning even children was a game. Los Angeles Times, 5 Apr. 2026 Toddler Adalina India, daughter of second baseman Jonathan India and his wife Daniella, scored a home run in the Cute Kiddie Pics division, mugging like a pro on the field for her mom. Lisa Gutierrez march 31, Kansas City Star, 31 Mar. 2026 Denver’s 33-year-old shooting guard reveled in the moment, mean-mugging his way to the huddle. Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 21 Mar. 2026 For most of the show, Bad Bunny had been mugging merrily to the camera, flaring his eyes and making hammy gestures to illustrate his words. Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 9 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mugging
Noun
  • The man faces one count of third-degree burglary and is not in custody.
    Anthony Bettin, CBS News, 20 Aug. 2026
  • The burglary happened early on June 2 at Hushcha’s studio in Minneapolis’s North Loop neighborhood.
    Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 20 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Garner started the video with a clip of her drinking leftovers from the drink container and seemingly getting a brain freeze, holding her hand to her forehead and grimacing.
    Chiara Kim, PEOPLE, 3 Aug. 2026
  • On Monday’s episode of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, a grimacing Stewart was flabbergasted at why, exactly, the president elbowed his way into a spotlight clearly not intended for him.
    Greg Evans, Deadline, 21 July 2026
Verb
  • State Bill 720 made the program possible by reclassifying red light violations as civil infractions and adding privacy safeguards that bar photographing drivers and using facial recognition.
    Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Primarily a portrait photographer, Lange began photographing unemployed men wandering the streets of San Francisco during the early years of the Great Depression, starkly capturing their desperation.
    Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • Officials with the football program say the break-in is a nuisance that raises questions about whether there's a better place for the team to train.
    Joe Holden, CBS News, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Polo was taken during a break-in at a farm in Morayshire, Scotland, in 2018, according to reporting by the BBC.
    Moná Thomas, PEOPLE, 13 Aug. 2026
Verb
  • Some edits of the clip show the character in black-and-white, staring at the camera, emulating a horror movie scene.
    Owen Carry, USA Today, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Some of them still live in cabins and grow their own food and others spend their days staring at Microsoft Office screens, but versions of the spontaneous hippie archetype still live on within each of them.
    Christian Zilko, IndieWire, 14 Aug. 2026
Noun
  • The El Niño butterfly effect If there are significant holdups at the canal, vessels will bring their cargo to a US West Coast port and truck it across the country, Yadav said.
    Hira Humayun, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026
  • For the most part, these aren’t armed holdups but instead more like storage-facility break-ins.
    Kiel Porter, Fortune, 17 Aug. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Mugging.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mugging. Accessed 24 Aug. 2026.

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