Thesaurus results for PLUG-UGLIES

plug-uglies

noun

plural of plug-ugly

as in thugs

a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang sent over a couple of hulking plug-uglies to rough up the store owner

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for plug-uglies

Noun

Shortly after his big win, he’s attacked by two thugs in a parking garage.

— Ben Travers, IndieWire, 30 July 2026
The night of the title fight, Duke is attacked by two thugs who smash his hand with a hammer and, in the ensuing chaos, kill somebody close to him.

— Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 30 July 2026

Definition of thugs

Noun

North Carolina politician says Democrats are coddling criminals Records also list a September 2025 simple-assault charge and a March 2025 charge of assault on a female.

— Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 8 Aug. 2026
Even if Anna Pigeon carries a gun with cuffs, as real-life law enforcement rangers do, there's much more to the job and character than chasing down criminals.

— Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 7 Aug. 2026

Definition of criminals

Noun

Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, U30 lister Tom Holland, is back on the screen to beat both villains and records.

— Alexandra York, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026
The aforementioned Richie Aprile, played wonderfully by David Proval, makes for one of the most menacing villains of the series.

— Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 5 Aug. 2026

Definition of villains

Noun

This high-security prison is a sprawling complex that houses thousands of detainees, including notorious gangsters, terrorists and prominent white-collar offenders.

— Rhea Mogul, CNN Money, 9 Aug. 2026
Based upon their replies, occupying Allied officials ranked their culpability, then tried the worst offenders — most famously in the Nuremberg trials, but also in numerous local tribunals.

— Fern Schumer Chapman, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2026

Definition of offenders

Noun

But the island was also a haven for outcasts and pirates and merchants, from across Europe and the Levant and beyond, who came to the Caribbean to seek their fortunes or to help grow the fortunes of others.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026
The voyage started with 350 captives; almost all died or were kidnapped a second time by pirates.

— USA Today, USA Today, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of pirates

Noun

Many of Ellis’s most awful characters are the most conventionally attractive, their looks serving as a shield against their various crimes; Murphy co-created The Beauty, in which tech moguls and assassins kill to be beautiful.

— Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 5 Aug. 2026
Authorities were seeking both the assassins and masterminds of the crime, according to the president.

— Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 5 Aug. 2026

Definition of assassins

Noun

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

Definition of gangsters

Noun

Armed groups, known as bandits in Nigeria, regularly carry out raids and kidnappings for ransom in the northwest and north-central parts of the country.

— ABC News, ABC News, 6 Aug. 2026
The area was wild and uninhabited, but the bandits moved through it with practiced ease.

— Alexis Okeowo, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026

Definition of bandits

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

plugs (up)

plug-uglies

plug-ugly

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“Plug-uglies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plug-uglies. Accessed 13 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of plug-uglies

noun

Example Sentences

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