rowdies

noun

plural of rowdy
as in thugs
a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang rowdies had overtaken the neighborhood and were threatening people on the street

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for rowdies
  1. thugs
  2. criminals
  3. gangsters
  4. bandits
  5. hoodlums
  6. villains
  7. ruffians
  8. hooligans
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
  • Spencer says filmmaker Douglas wanted to very much focus mostly on the women rather than talking about the criminals.
    — Antonia Blyth, Deadline, 16 Aug. 2026
  • Depending on the plan, monitoring may cover credit activity, financial accounts, investment and retirement accounts, phone takeovers, SIM swaps, utility accounts and other areas where criminals may try to use your identity.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of criminals
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
  • Especially when the protagonists are fighting gangsters, offensive editors, twitchy Vatican librarians, and an oversized Jason Momoa, to claim the hand of Gal Gadot’s two characters, one in the present, one in the past.
    — A.D. Amorosi, SPIN, 6 Aug. 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
Noun
  • In the past decade, the leadership of the Kinahan organization has become rich and cosmopolitan, and their life styles have started to resemble those of international businessmen more than of street hoodlums.
    — Ed Caesar, New Yorker, 30 Apr. 2026
  • The first pictures McCullin took were of hoodlums and down-and-outs, subjects that reflected his own hardscrabble background.
    — Andrew Pulver, Air Mail, 31 Jan. 2026
Definition of hoodlums
Noun
  • People who once dined together, smiled together, campaigned together and worked together to strengthen our communities are suddenly being portrayed as villains.
    — Beau Simon, Sun Sentinel, 16 Aug. 2026
  • Patrick and Hugo McPherson play the Stabbington brothers, two twin villains.
    — Tanya Fedak, Variety, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of villains
Noun
  • The series has lent a cinematic gangster attraction to the Peaky Blinders, yet the term itself was not one gang — as depicted in the show — but a generic expression from the late 19th century for the ‘street ruffians’ of Birmingham, born out of the city’s ring of poverty.
    — Jacob Tanswell, New York Times, 4 Apr. 2026
  • In fact, the GTW ruffians have to give the Big Honey some props for his relative restraint in the heat of the moment.
    — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 28 Feb. 2026
Definition of ruffians
Noun
  • There’s still time to make the most of your Southern summer, with old-fashioned traditions to help you—and perhaps a few other neighborhood hooligans from back in the day—feel like a kid again.
    — Abigail Wilt, Southern Living, 22 July 2026
  • Andric argued that former soccer players targeted by hooligans were indeed a social group deserving protection, but the judges didn’t buy it.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 13 July 2026
Definition of hooligans
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

rowboats
rowdies
rowdiness
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Cite this Entry

“Rowdies.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rowdies. Accessed 19 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of rowdies for Spanish Speakers

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