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
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The thugs would insinuate themselves into the confidence of wayfarers and, when a favorable opportunity presented itself, strangle them by throwing a handkerchief or noose around their necks.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
31 Mar. 2026 -
No government masked thugs shooting down our neighbors in the streets.—
Diego Parrado,
Vanity Fair,
29 Mar. 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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Design There’s a reason James Bond villains chase 007’s Aston Martin in fleets of black Defenders.—
John Scott Lewinski,
Robb Report,
8 Apr. 2026
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In the two-parter, which airs April 14 (8PM – 10 PM), the series’ central character, Amy (Molly Parker) will risk her life for one of the series’ main villains, Richard (Scott Wolf), who had killed a patient, tried to cover it up and blamed it on Amy, almost ending her career.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
7 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Anyone can see how many cases are filed, how much attorneys collect, and who the worst offenders are.—
Tom Manzo,
Oc Register,
6 Apr. 2026
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Punish the worst offenders by requiring them to apologize, publicly, for missing the mark.—
Louisa Thomas,
New Yorker,
5 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Rather than prohibiting unlicensed copies, the patent became, combined with the rise of the internet, a blueprint for pirates.—
Simon Akam,
Vanity Fair,
2 Apr. 2026
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The Vikings were raiders, pirates, traders, explorers, and colonizers who traveled far beyond their homeland in Scandinavia between the 9th and 11 centuries.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
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No wonder all these characters wanted to become assassins, Scott implies; they’re removed from reality by so many orders of magnitude that living, breathing fellow humans are just blurry images.—
Theater Critic,
San Francisco Chronicle,
29 Mar. 2026
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Mirrors were such a precious commodity in the heyday of the Venetian Republic that the assassins were dispatched to, well, dispatch any defectors who left La Serenissima and tried to take the secrets of creating that mesmerizing, reflective surface along with them.—
Mark Ellwood,
Robb Report,
17 Mar. 2026
Noun
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They get captured by Hungarian gangsters and have to fight (and kill) their way out of an inn run by a shady former dance prodigy (Uma Thurman).—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
4 Apr. 2026
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Once housing notorious gangsters such as Al Capone, the notorious Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary closed its doors to prisoners in 1963, since becoming a museum.—
Zach Halaschak,
The Washington Examiner,
3 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Set against mountainous landscapes and rural lakes, the story follows a wandering swordsman who is falsely accused of stealing a shipment of gold and must unravel a web of intrigue involving bandits, palace guards and corrupt officials while attempting to clear his name.—
Lin Ying-Hsuan,
Variety,
18 Mar. 2026
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Alongside attacks by bandits, Nigeria is also plagued by an insurgency fought by the Boko Haram extremist group and its splinter faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
17 Mar. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Plug-uglies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plug-uglies. Accessed 12 Apr. 2026.
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