thuggish


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thug

 (thŭg)
n.
1. A cutthroat or ruffian; a hoodlum.
2. also Thug One of a group of professional criminals, devotees of Kali, who robbed and murdered travelers in northern India until the mid-1800s.

[Hindi ṭhag, perhaps from Sanskrit sthagaḥ, a cheat, from sthagati, sthagayati, he conceals; see (s)teg- in Indo-European roots.]

thug′ger·y n.
thug′gish adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations

thuggish

[ˈθʌgɪʃ] ADJ [person] → desalmado; [behaviour] → propio de un matón, desalmado, canallesco
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

thuggish

[ˈθʌgɪʃ] adjbrutal(e)
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

thuggish

adj person, behaviourgewalttätig; to be thuggish in dealing with somebodymit jdm brutal umgehen
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
References in periodicals archive ?
Too many Merseysiders are suffering in silence as thuggish gangs take over neighbourhoods and make families, pensioners and decent, law-abiding people their victims.
He once looked rather thuggish and later young and cute and even his trademark scowl all but disappeared.
The modern equivalent of running hoodlums out of town was designed to neutralise thuggish juvenile delinquents and neighbours from hell.
Promoted from the Department of Education, the Home Secretary placed his greatest emphasis on achieving targets in violent crime and 'thuggish behaviour'.
``When someone comments on security, three things spring to mind - the thuggish bouncer, the retired old man on a building site and the professional, impeccable character who is polite yet stern.
But what these thuggish types might have lacked in compassion and empathy they likely made up for by being cheap.
THIS country is getting worse for thuggish behaviour.
WHAT a bunch of thuggish yobs those MSPs were during the football match against sports writers.
It's time we led the revolt against dodgy bar staff and thuggish doormen.
Special mention to Noel Clarke, as the thuggish Sam, who seemed like a terrifying movie villain stuck in the middle of a long episode of Grange Hill.
Bev says: ``We are looking for gangster types -- a bit thuggish, bouncer types.