gangsters

[gang-ster]

Origin

noun

a member of a gang of criminals, especially a racketeer.

Origin:
1895–1900, Americanism; gang¹ + -ster

Synonyms
mobster, hoodlum, crook, thug; hood, goon.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source

Link To gangsters

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Gangsters is always a great word to know.

So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:

a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

gangster

1896, Amer.Eng., from gang (q.v.) in its criminal sense. Gangland is from 1912. Gangsta rap style is generally credited to West Philly hip hop artist Schoolly D, but his "Gangster Boogie" (1984) used the conventional spelling; NWA was spelling it gangsta by 1988.

Word Dynamo By Dictionary.com

Searching for gangsters?
How many words do you actually know?

FIND OUT

Related Words

squeeze

syndicate

Matching Quote

"Don't blame the police. They can't stop machine guns from being run back and forth across the state lines. They can't enforce laws that don't exist.... Instead of trying to hide the facts, get busy and see that laws are passed that will do some good.... Pass a federal law that puts the gun in the same class as drugs and white slavery. Put teeth in the deportation act. These gangsters don't belong in this country; half of them aren't even citizens. I'll tell you what to do. Make laws and see that they're obeyed, if we have to have marshall law to do it... The army will help, so will the American Legion.... Let's get wise to ourselves. We're fighting organized murder."

-Ben Hecht

gangsters

gang·ster