palookas

noun

plural of palooka
as in hulks
a big clumsy often slow-witted person I wish he wouldn't bring over here that bunch of palookas he calls his friends

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for palookas
  1. hulks
  2. lumps
  3. losers
  4. villains
  5. morons
  6. idiots
  7. mutts
  8. clowns
Noun
  • Water levels on the Danube River, the second longest in Europe, have dropped so low because of drought that the hulks of dozens of World War II German battleships — and even the remains of an ancient woolly mammoth — are emerging into view.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of hulks
Noun
  • Hopefully, Miami can begin to reap the benefits from the lumps that the trio of defensive linemen — Grant, Phillips and Biggers — received during their up-and-down rookie campaigns in 2025.
    — Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Peet, who had been screened since her late 30s because of dense breast tissue and prior benign lumps, was treated with a lumpectomy and radiation and is now on tamoxifen.
    — Samantha Agate, Kansas City Star, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of lumps
Noun
  • Ryan O'Reilly and Steven Stamkos scored, and Juuse Saros made 30 saves for Nashville, losers of three straight.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026
  • The selling in recent days, however, has intensified on worries about the AI trade, making the likes of Micron among our biggest losers week-to-date and defensives such as Cardinal Health among our biggest weekly winners.
    — Alexa LoMonaco, CNBC, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of losers
Noun
  • Rival fans were quick to jump all over this fact, given that both the Panthers and the Tkachuk brothers were seen as polarizing villains throughout the NHL.
    — Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 16 Oct. 2026
  • There are no villains or scary scenes in this gentle story about a young witch finding her way in the world.
    — Anna Earl, Parents, 15 Oct. 2026
Definition of villains
Noun
  • There are complicated brain-chemistry factors involved that have to do with testosterone, and dopaminergic systems, and kappa-opioid receptors, all of which seem to add up to a Jim Gaffigan joke about how men are morons compared with their wives.
    — McKay Coppins, The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2026
  • The Dilbert principle — traced back to a quote in a 1995 strip — posited that managers and higher-ups are actually successful morons whose stubbornness is confused for real leadership qualities.
    — Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 13 Jan. 2026
Definition of morons
Noun
  • Eleven gullible idiots were talked into acquitting because of an imaginary female ailment.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 20 Sep. 2026
  • And then there’s the culture of the scientists, and these idiots can’t read Dickens.
    — David Brooks, The Atlantic, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of idiots
Noun
  • Not that hard to leave the little mutts at home for the grocery store trip.
    — Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 26 May 2026
  • For starters, there are the cost savings of getting one of these not-so-in-demand mutts.
    — Jack Beresford, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Mar. 2026
Definition of mutts
Noun
  • His high-fashion clowns, bears and other quirks always deliver.
    — Tonya Blazio-Licorish, Footwear News, 18 Oct. 2026
  • The gasoline shortage has become such a feature of daily life that even clowns at Moscow’s circus have cracked jokes about it.
    — Ivan Nechepurenko, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2026
Definition of clowns
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.

Browse Nearby Words

palooka
palookas
palp
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Cite this Entry

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

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