PUNKS Synonyms: 92 Similar and Opposite Words

punks

noun

plural of punk

as in novices

a person who is just starting out in a field of activity an impertinent punk who was trying to tell senior colleagues how to do their jobs

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in thugs

a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang the vigilante was hailed by some as a hero for standing up to the punks who had repeatedly threatened his family

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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 punks Conversely, maybe the fact that their songs, while impressively self-possessed, weren’t directly confrontational has kept them from being counted as forebears to the feminist punks who would come after. —

Marissa Lorusso, Pitchfork, 3 May 2026 Music zines often had the same format, columns from semi-famous punks, interviews with up-and-coming bands, record reviews, and, always shunted to the back, zine reviews. —

Literary Hub, 23 Apr. 2026 And everyone else was private school punks. —

Mikey O'Connell, HollywoodReporter, 22 Apr. 2026 Their unpermitted April 2021 show at Lafayette Park in Westlake, publicized through social media and word of mouth, drew thousands of pent-up punks and kids looking for somewhere to go during the shutdown. —

Los Angeles Times, 15 Apr. 2026 This decade alone, the same South Minneapolis punks currently protesting in the streets lived through the uprising around George Floyd’s murder and the Nudieland punk house shooting, which resulted in multiple injuries and the death of August Golden. —

Evan Minsker, Rolling Stone, 7 Feb. 2026 Directed by James Buddy Day, 40 Years of F**kin’ Up traces NOFX’s evolution from teenage punks to one of the most influential and polarising bands in modern punk history. —

Jessica Lynch, Billboard, 17 Jan. 2026 For example, in Granada, there is a community of ravers, punks, that have been there since the time of Margaret Thatcher. —

Damon Wise, Deadline, 16 Dec. 2025 All these young punks and musical savants appearing under the repressive atmosphere of the academy may require some suspension of disbelief (as does Lilisa’s gravity-defying hair). —

Kambole Campbell, Vulture, 9 Dec. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for punks

Noun

Game after game, stadiums were filled to capacity, packed not only with tourists and die-hard fans but also with soccer novices who came out of curiosity and because tickets were relatively affordable, according to soccer historians.

— Juliana Kim, NPR, 9 May 2026
Both of the Broadway novices are proudly bearing souvenirs of other passion projects.

— Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 30 Apr. 2026