noun

• A violent young troublemaker, typically one of a gang.

  ‘a drunken hooligan’

  More example sentences

  • ‘hooligan behavior’
  • ‘Residents are being driven out of their homes by young yobs and hooligans who are making their lives a misery.’
  • ‘There was nothing unusual about any of this and no doubt the hooligan gangs of both clubs were eager for more trouble after the game.’
  • ‘Officers have been given the go-ahead to impose curfews and exclusion zones on young hooligans.’
  • ‘Their peace of mind has been shattered by young hooligans who use the derelict estate as their playground.’
  • ‘Young hooligans face being barred from Otley as part of a crackdown on crime in the town centre.’
  • ‘Football violence has increased markedly in the city in recent years and there have been numerous outbreaks of trouble between rival hooligan gangs.’
  • ‘The hooligans also vandalised changing rooms at a nearby school.’
  • ‘The government is to get tough on hooligans who cause mayhem with fireworks.’
  • ‘The Japanese authorities had feared an invasion of English hooligans, but there has been little trouble so far.’
  • ‘The hooligan element has re-emerged at every level of football.’
  • ‘She said the police should have done more to stop the hooligans.’
  • ‘A drunken hooligan who smashed a glass into a motorist's face has been jailed for 18 months.’
  • ‘The hotel was banned from serving late drinks 20 years ago after drunken hooligans made life a misery for residents.’
  • ‘A gang of teenage hooligans has turned a quiet Carroll Gardens park in into a war zone.’
  • ‘Although hard, the work was rewarding and enjoyable: I spent most of my time playing sports or going out on field trips with gangs of little hooligans.’
  • ‘A 10-year-old girl fighting for her life after being thrown from an unsaddled horse had just rescued the animal from a gang of hooligans and was trying to take it to safety when the accident occurred.’
  • ‘Seventy people, if you can call a screaming mob of hooligans human in any meaningful sense of the word, have been arrested for their role in the destruction of 18,000 books and 30,000 manuscripts.’
  • ‘He said: "Obviously, the repeated vandalism of the statue is of great concern and hopefully the mindless hooligans responsible will be caught."’

  Synonyms

  hoodlum, thug, lout, delinquent, vandal, ruffian, rowdy, troublemaker

  View synonyms