Gangster

//ˈɡæŋ(k).stɚ// adj, noun, verb, slang

adj, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A member of a criminal or street gang.
  2. 2
    a criminal who is a member of gang wordnet
  3. 3
    A member of a professional criminal organization (in organized crime): a racketeer.
Verb
  1. 1
    To act like a gangster; to commit street crime or run a racket.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Characteristic of a gangster; (especially) admirable and audacious. slang

    "I looked at my team and thought, "Damn, now that was the most gangster move I have ever seen in my life. I think we just strong-armed a government official in Sierra Leone!""

  2. 2
    On friendly terms; cool. Internet, slang

    "We put an end to our beef. We're all gangster now."

Synonyms

All synonyms
bad personbanditbetrayerbrigandconvictcriminal

Example

More examples

"The bold man glanced at the gangster with hatred and contempt."

Etymology

From gang + -ster. First attested in 1884.

Related phrases

black gangstergangster leangangster rapgangster ride

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.