as in thug
a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang
the complaint that English football has been taken over by the yobs, who make the stadiums unfit for families
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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 yob
There’s certainly little warmth surrounding the past here, beginning with an eerie, cryptic prologue, set in 1973, that sees a rural wedding crashed by yobs in sinister, medieval-looking straw masks, followed by yellowing newspaper headlines that puzzle over the bride’s subsequent disappearance.
—
Guy Lodge, Variety, 13 Aug. 2024
Johnson has more to worry about than just random yobs disrupting the call.
—Mark Hachman, PCWorld, 31 Mar. 2020
After the yobs fled, the Sun reported, Cumberbatch hugged the deliveryman from Deliveroo, a U.K. food-delivery service.
—The Washington Post, NOLA.com, 2 June 2018
But these folk will not be your random yobs brought in to gawp.
—William Booth, Washington Post, 2 Mar. 2018
Guy Lodge, Variety, 13 Aug. 2024
Johnson has more to worry about than just random yobs disrupting the call.
—Mark Hachman, PCWorld, 31 Mar. 2020
After the yobs fled, the Sun reported, Cumberbatch hugged the deliveryman from Deliveroo, a U.K. food-delivery service.
—The Washington Post, NOLA.com, 2 June 2018
But these folk will not be your random yobs brought in to gawp.
—William Booth, Washington Post, 2 Mar. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for yob
Noun
-
The new Homeland Security person needs to unmask the thugs causing harm to families and innocent children.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
15 Mar. 2026
-
The centerpiece is, of course, the melee/dance-off between the ensemble in white tutus and the violent thugs, toe blade and all.—
Lé Baltar,
IndieWire,
14 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
These laws make anyone who’s even a little gender nonconforming an object of suspicion, a potential criminal.—
Darren Rosenblum,
Mercury News,
21 Mar. 2026
-
Many people copy cryptocurrency wallet addresses before sending digital currency, and those addresses can be valuable to criminals.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
21 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Joe Cole, late of Peaky Blinders, plays Ethan, a former petty teen gangster from Las Vegas who has decamped to Los Angeles and made an honest man of himself.—
Richard Lawson,
HollywoodReporter,
18 Mar. 2026
-
Out March 27 on Hulu, the film, directed by BenDavid Grabinski, follows mobster Nick (Vaughn), who travels back in time so that Future Nick and Present Nick can save fellow gangster buddy Mike (James Marsden) from being murdered.—
Ethan Shanfeld,
Variety,
15 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The movie does attempt to gesture at class and race as thematic underpinnings (the maids trapped in The Virgil are mostly non-white, while the villains are rich Caucasians), but like the story and action at large, these go pretty much nowhere, and feel like obligatory symbols.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
18 Mar. 2026
-
Each ship name in the class has fed into a theme on board, with Wish tied to enchantment, Treasure to adventure and Destiny to heroes and villains.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
18 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Yob.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/yob. Accessed 26 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
