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
  1. thugs
  2. criminals
  3. villains
  4. offenders
  5. pirates
  6. assassins
  7. gangsters
  8. bandits
Noun
  • The eponymous former assassin is drawn back into the game after some thugs (led by Alfie Allen) kill his dog and royally piss him off.
    — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 14 Aug. 2026
  • Shortly after his big win, he’s attacked by two thugs in a parking garage.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 30 July 2026
Definition of thugs
Noun
  • Throughout the bar are blurbs of information on cases and criminals, researched by Rose and the team.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 29 Aug. 2026
  • When criminals are behind bars, their victims should finally be safe from them.
    — Caden Perry, jsonline.com, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of criminals
Noun
  • The ’90s were an era of event villains, characters who came preinstalled with their own company-wide impact.
    — Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Anthony Hopkins has played villains and popes, presidents and dictators, titans of literature and comic book kings.
    — Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of villains
Noun
  • Laws regarding incarceration of youthful offenders — age 25 or younger at the time of the crime — have evolved since the siblings were tried.
    — Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Aug. 2026
  • From names like ChatGPT and Gemini to Meta AI, Perplexity, and even Grok, the report identifies which chatbots are the most privacy-friendly and transparent in their practices and which are the worst offenders.
    — Alan Henry, PC Magazine, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of offenders
Noun
  • Speaking of singing pirates, Curry clearly fancied these kinds of roles, signing on to play the villainous Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island (1996), Brian Henson’s musical adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel.
    — ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 26 Aug. 2026
  • That is up from Politico’s report that Somali pirates had seized at least three tankers carrying oil and fertilizer since April, while a chemical-carrying ship was hijacked off Yemen in July.
    — Joshua Hong, Fortune, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of pirates
Noun
  • Bannerman centers on the eponymous Paul Bannerman, a lethal covert operative who convinces a group of the world’s most deadly assassins to quit the spy game for a chance to lead normal lives in the suburbs of Connecticut.
    — Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Meanwhile, Clive Owen and other assassins pursue them through the streets of Europe.
    — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of assassins
Noun
  • 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
Definition of gangsters
Noun
  • Analysts warn each ransom payment fuels more crime as armed groups, from rural bandits to Islamist militants, raid schools, mosques and villages, with an average of 21 kidnappings reported daily.
    — Dyepkazah Shibayan, Los Angeles Times, 27 Aug. 2026
  • The Brigands of Rattlecreek follows a sheriff and a doctor who seek revenge against a group of bandits who use the cover of a torrential thunderstorm to rob and terrorize the occupants of a small town.
    — Matt Grobar, Deadline, 25 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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Cite this Entry

“Plug-uglies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plug-uglies. Accessed 31 Aug. 2026.

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