thugs

noun

plural of thug
as in criminals
a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang the Mob boss regularly sent his thugs after people who were slow to pay their debts

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 thugs 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 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 In the big screen take of Clayface, Hagen is a matinee idol on the rise, but his face gets slashed by thugs. — Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 23 July 2026 Threatening to limit mail-in voting, adding ridiculous ID requirements, or staging thugs at polling places are other possible ways to convince you to stay home. — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 6 July 2026 To be sure, the thugs of Hamas and Hezbollah committed a horrific massacre of young Jewish civilians enjoying a music festival on October 7, 2023. — Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 6 July 2026 The actions of these thugs, who should be imprisoned for a long while, is the cause of denying real Knicks fans the chance to watch the game communally. — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 10 June 2026 People have committed suicide because a bunch of thugs went after them. — NBC news, 7 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for thugs
  1. criminals
  2. gangsters
  3. villains
  4. bandits
  5. assassins
  6. hoodlums
  7. thieves
  8. pirates
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
  • 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
  • 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
  • One Arab American man later recalled that his great-grandfather, who pursued a similar route, never made it to the Midwest—his train was stopped by a group of bandits from Mexico who forced the passengers to hand over their belongings.
    — Rozina Ali, New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2026
  • The train was sitting just outside a depot in Memphis when the bandits made their move.
    — Kiel Porter, Fortune, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of bandits
Noun
  • Meanwhile, Clive Owen and other assassins pursue them through the streets of Europe.
    — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 14 Aug. 2026
  • 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
Definition of assassins
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
  • The thieves bypassed alarm and security systems at the MuMe museum.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 16 Aug. 2026
  • The thieves also purloined a small double-sided painting, with the Virgin and Child on one side and Christ on the other, that the Sicilian regional government had bought from the auction house Christie's back in 2003.
    — Willem Marx, NPR, 16 Aug. 2026
Definition of thieves
Noun
  • Internally at the studios, copyright divisions spend their energy targeting larger criminal operations enabling these digital pirates — the hives sharing and disseminating premium content.
    — Gene Maddaus, Variety, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Eight pirates, believed to be members of a group previously involved in the hijacking of the M/V Sward on April 26, took the vessel toward the coast near Garmaal in Puntland’s Dangoroyo district.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of pirates

Browse Nearby Words

thug
thugs
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Cite this Entry

“Thugs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/thugs. Accessed 23 Aug. 2026.

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Nglish: Translation of thugs for Spanish Speakers

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