as in thugs
a violent, brutal person who is often a member of an organized gang
the argument that the DEA needs to focus more on the kingpins of the drug trade and less on the gangbangers in the street
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of gangbangers
Murdered within about six months of each other at the height of their fame in the 1990s, their deaths spawned conspiracy theories of hitmen, coverups and cops on gangbangers’ payrolls.
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Veronica Bravo, USA Today, 7 Sep. 2025
This is quite the new phenomenon for all the gangbangers, fentanyl dealers, girlfriend-beaters, drunk drivers and pedophiles — going to church.
—Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 17 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gangbangers
Noun
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Even the Democrat hacks at Massport understood the insanity of dumping hundreds more of these thugs into one of the few functioning hubs of commercial activity left in New England.—
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Of course, Sarah and her mom continue to believe that God is on their side, even after the family home is attacked by oil company thugs and a reliable ally winds up on the wrong end of a shotgun.—
Noun
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The first thing to do is to reduce the damage to the United States, the inflow of guns and criminals and immigrants and drugs into the United States, the destabilizing of a key part of the Western Hemisphere.—
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Also, place freezes with ChexSystems and the National Consumer Telecom and Utilities Exchange to stop criminals from opening bank accounts, phone lines, or utility services in his name.—
Noun
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The gangsters grew powerful running liquor during Prohibition.—
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Beset by gangs and guns, the Haçienda faltered in the ’90s despite clever-sounding schemes such as replacing the club’s security with the gangsters themselves.—
Noun
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The robbery lasted less than seven minutes, as the bandits used a truck with an extendable ladder to cut through a window on a second-floor balcony, according to police.—
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In return, a lord provided his peasants with protection from bandits or invaders.—
Noun
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Sorkin finds no heroes but also no villains.—
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There’s also a massive leg lumbering in the distance which could be a Sentinel, the gigantic, mutant-hunting robots that are some of X-Men’s most iconic villains.—
Noun
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When a father seeking vengeance, an American operative experiencing a string of bad luck, and several independent assassins hailing from around the world all end up on the same bullet train bound for Kyoto, the results are violent — and the survivors minimal.—
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The situation gets more complex with the addition of a bunch of oddball assassins trying to murder the neighbor, plus other mysterious and shady types like his former associate Laverne (Weaver).—
Cite this Entry
“Gangbangers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gangbangers. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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