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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hoodlum
However, hoodlums and thugs who throw objects at the players give up their rights and should be removed, charged, and possibly jailed.
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Kate Plummer, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Aug. 2025
Sir Jimmy Crystal gives deeply unsettling vibes from the get-go, and while his bizarre gang of hoodlums do save Spike’s life, it’s implied that Spike may have wandered into a much worse situation.
—Dani Di Placido, Forbes.com, 25 June 2025
Critics say police gave up when the rioting erupted in 1992, letting big chunks of the city burn while looters and hoodlums ruled.
—Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times, 12 June 2025
His hoodlum phase in New York was re-created at the Lenox Lounge in Harlem.
—CBS News, 2 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for hoodlum
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hoodlum
Noun
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Again, Maduro is a socialist thug.—
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This is the underworld that Michlewitz and the rest of his thug pals come out of, and will protect at all costs.—
Noun
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Stumpy the gangster, Bev the Mormon.—
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Metrotone Media’s Katharina Gellein Viken, meanwhile, revealed a new micro-drama in the works, a mockumentary about the making of a low-budget British gangster flick.—
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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Sorkin finds no heroes but also no villains.—
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But what Ole Miss has had to deal with is beyond the norm, with Kiffin in the villain’s role.—
Noun
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There can be no doubt that in tax terms, America’s wealthiest families make out like bandits.—
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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.—
Noun
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The inside of the bag was filled with trash, signaling that a thief must have left this behind and taken my bag on purpose at another stop.—
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On Sunday, San Jose police were on the scene at Macy’s within minutes, but the thieves had already fled.—
Cite this Entry
“Hoodlum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hoodlum. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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