as in thug
a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang
a couple of hoodlums held up the convenience store
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Recent Examples of hoodlum
Skipping the childhood stuff, the story gets going with Eddie or Edik as a young factory worker and poet manqué in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in the 1960s after a rocky hoodlum phase which saw him getting sent by his parents to a mental hospital.
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Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 May 2024
Those protestors that Saturday didn’t look like principled advocates for anything, but more like a bunch of selfish hoodlums who need to grow up.
—Letter Writers, Twin Cities, 12 May 2024
Citizens began to ask why the supposedly omnipotent Chinese Communist Party was powerless against ragtag hoodlums in the poorest fringes of Asia’s poorest nations.
—TIME, 21 Mar. 2024
Along the way, Ma reunites with series-regular Jang I-su (Park Ji-hwan) a petty hoodlum with an attachment to his designer man-purse and a secret desire, which Ma exploits amusingly, to be accepted as one of the squad.
—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 25 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hoodlum 
Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 May 2024
Those protestors that Saturday didn’t look like principled advocates for anything, but more like a bunch of selfish hoodlums who need to grow up.
—Letter Writers, Twin Cities, 12 May 2024
Citizens began to ask why the supposedly omnipotent Chinese Communist Party was powerless against ragtag hoodlums in the poorest fringes of Asia’s poorest nations.
—TIME, 21 Mar. 2024
Along the way, Ma reunites with series-regular Jang I-su (Park Ji-hwan) a petty hoodlum with an attachment to his designer man-purse and a secret desire, which Ma exploits amusingly, to be accepted as one of the squad.
—Jessica Kiang, Variety, 25 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hoodlum
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hoodlum
Noun
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The climax, in which Dwight and his crew beat a group of nameless Chinese immigrant thugs into submission after they’re used as cannon fodder by Cal Thresher to sabotage Dwight’s wind turbines, is more important to the plot and even uglier.Sean T. Collins, Vulture, 13 Oct. 2024
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Like other Diablo games, Hades would support cooperative multiplayer, but in the Arkham games, groups of thugs would circle around the Dark Knight, comic-book style, waiting to be punched in the face.Jason Schreier, WIRED, 8 Oct. 2024
Noun
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Many Japanese action films are too much about fantasy, either Yakuza [gangsters] or serial killers.Patrick Frater, Variety, 1 Nov. 2024
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Tyler takes aim at the masks people wear to hide from their true selves, evoking a middle-class gangster and a closeted religious zealot.Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 30 Oct. 2024
Noun
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Its undeniably a humanitarian crisis and a very real security threat because of drug cartels, criminals and terrorists crossing the border.Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Orange County Register, 5 Nov. 2024
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The Jordanians will soar like eagles to hunt you down, one criminal after another.Ed Caesar, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2024
Noun
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Just weeks after closing out an incredibly dominant year in music, Rihanna was cast by some fans and members of the media as the villain and endlessly harassed by those who felt Brown did nothing wrong.Kyle Denis, Billboard, 19 Nov. 2024
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Emma Corrin also starred in the film as the villain, Cassandra Nova.Joe Otterson, Variety, 18 Nov. 2024
Noun
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But the pandemic-era inflationary period played out unlike any other in history, and wealthy people made out like bandits.Allison Morrow, CNN, 31 Oct. 2024
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When the film starts, a cursed bandit of pirates led by Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) are aboard Sparrow’s former ship, the Black Pearl, and have kidnapped Turner’s love interest, Elizabeth Swann (Knightley).Yasmeen Hamadeh, People.com, 27 Oct. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near hoodlum
Cite this Entry
“Hoodlum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hoodlum. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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