mobs 1 of 2

noun

plural of mob
1
as in throngs
a great number of persons or creatures massed together a mob of pigeons soon flocked around us after they spied the bread crumbs

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2
as in gangs
a group involved in secret or criminal activities the club owner was accused of having connections with a mob of racketeers

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3
as in masses
the body of the community as contrasted with the elite political speeches designed to appeal to the mob

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

mobs

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of mob
as in flocks
to move upon or fill (something) in great numbers the snack bar was mobbed as soon as the meeting was over

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of mobs
Noun
As was often said of New York neighborhoods with a strong Mafia presence, tightly run hierarchical mobs like to control the streets, and have little use for violent freelancers. — Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026 Anti-Israel mobs want one state called 'Palestine,' erasing Israel. — FOXNews.com, 12 Oct. 2026 Of these three films, The Uprising is admittedly the least heist-explicit; Paul Greengrass’s shaky cam mostly follows marching mobs lambasting the king and furious revolts against soldiers and tax collectors. — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 17 Sep. 2026 The barroom gives way to the Boom Boom room (for bands), which leads to the patio, all designed for mobs of undergrads who want cheap drinks and a place to hang. — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 14 Sep. 2026 In Iran, Afghans have been attacked by mobs and baselessly accused of collaborating with Israel; some legal residents have had police tear up their documents in front of them. — The Week Us, TheWeek, 31 Aug. 2026 While clearing mobs of enemies can be fun, the combat really shines during the game’s many boss fights. — Zackery Cuevas, PC Magazine, 31 Aug. 2026 Hours later mobs of his supporters did that, storming the Capitol and using flagpoles, bats, and pipes to attack overwhelmed law enforcement. — Tracy Grant, Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Aug. 2026 Xenophobic unrest in South Africa, where violent mobs have forced thousands of African foreigners to flee the country, has thrust migration into the spotlight. — Alexander Onukwue, semafor.com, 7 Aug. 2026
Verb
Toward Tuanzebe and the rest of the team that mobs him. — Franklin Leonard, Vanity Fair, 14 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mobs
  1. throngs
  2. gangs
  3. crowds
  4. flocks
  5. swarms
  6. syndicates
  7. populaces
  8. hordes
Noun
  • Leo's visit to Paris came as a birthday present for Jean-Claude Farnabe, who turned 63 on Saturday and spent the morning securing a spot amid the throngs of people.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 26 Sep. 2026
  • The cows made their way to the altar — with the handlers helping to guide them with hay — through throngs of people and a few mascots sitting in seats and lined up on the streets, who stopped by just to see the unique occasion.
    — Kimberlee Speakman, PEOPLE, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of throngs
Noun
  • Artisanal weapons and revolvers have been increasingly relegated to rural areas, smaller criminal groups and individuals, while over the past two years gangs have been procuring larger numbers of more lethal weaponry.
    — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Payments to these gangs in drugs developed local markets that further increased the violence, and the authorities felt overwhelmed.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of gangs
Noun
  • One year after its opening, The Louis, its Shanghai megastore shaped like a cruise ship, continues to draw crowds.
    — Joelle Diderich, Footwear News, 12 Oct. 2026
  • Trump has largely steered clear of political battlegrounds in his travels so far, focusing on red states and friendly crowds at a moment when Republicans worry that his unpopularity could drag down the party.
    — Sagar Meghani, Fortune, 10 Oct. 2026
Definition of crowds
Verb
  • Curiously, the romance reader often flocks to a title despite—and not because of—relatability.
    — Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of flocks
Noun
  • The astronauts were also on the lookout for swarms of lunar dust.
    — Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 8 Oct. 2026
  • Already that has included key battlefield support for Iran – and lessons of drone and missile swarms learned from Russia’s experience in Ukraine – in exchange for Russia’s use of Iran’s game-changing Shahed drones.
    — Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of swarms
Noun
  • Most crime syndicates were more welcoming to Korean recruits, for example, than mainstream corporations were.
    — Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026
  • Ramaphosa announced that soldiers would be deployed to support police in tackling gang violence, as the government steps up its fight against criminal syndicates.
    — Nimi Princewill, CNN Money, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of syndicates
Noun
  • But Onslaught doesn’t interrogate or even look at the military industrial complex with much interest beyond the notion that its fictional super soldiers were created to be unleashed upon civilian populaces.
    — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of populaces
Noun
  • More mature than the party hordes that roam this part of town, the vibe here is the casual elegance that blends drinking rum out of a pineapple while retaining your sophistication while doing it.
    — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 Oct. 2026
  • Their backing attracted hordes of counterrevolutionaries and Mubarak loyalists.
    — Abdelrahman ElGendy, Time, 6 Oct. 2026
Definition of hordes

Browse Nearby Words

mobilizing
mobs
mobster
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Cite this Entry

“Mobs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mobs. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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