hooligan
Syllables: hoo·li·gan/ˈhuː.lɪ.ɡən/
hooligan noun: a young person who causes trouble or violence, typically as a member of a gang or other group. Also the ellipsis of football hooligan.
Noun (1)
hooligan (plural hooligans)
- A young person who causes trouble or violence, typically as a member of a gang or other group.
- She also heard boys from other classes behind her talking: “So, Teacher Tang is a female hooligan.”2012, Tie Ning, The Bathing Women: A Novel
- And I was in danger of turning into a right little hooligan if left to my wayward ways.2013, Ken Sears, The Boy From Treacle Bumstead, →ISBN
- Synonyms:
- agitator, bad boy, bad news, bear, beggar, bhoy, blackguard, booger, boot boy, bovver boy
- A member of the United States Coast Guard.
- Many professional Navy and Coast Guard men were inclined to scoff. What kind of Navy was this, and what did they think they were up to, anyway? This bunch of hooligans wouldn't be any good to anyone; wouldn't be worth the powder to blow 'em to hell. Hooligan's Navy.1944, Lawrance Roger Thompson, The Navy Hunts the CGR 3070, page 7
- It often seemed to Al that the entire Coast Guard was a little embarrassed about being Coast Guardsmen—except maybe the cocky bearded men off the convoy cutters, who needed to apologize to no man because of any lack of battle stars. But in general, Army and Navy guys looked down on Hooligans.1957, Weldon Hill, Onionhead, page 251
Verb
hooligan (third-person singular simple present hooligans, present participle hooliganing, simple past and past participle hooliganed)
Noun (2)
hooligan (plural hooligan or hooligans)
- A type of fish, an anadromous smelt, Thaleichthys pacificus, found in the North Pacific.
- One year there was a strong wind. We couldn’t catch herring, but they were there. We caught lots of hooligans (smelt) and got through the year on those.1993, James H. Barker, quoting Larry John, “Smelt Running Season, Fish Hitting: Qusiirvik, Kaugun”, in Always Getting Ready: Upterrlainarluta: Yup’ik Eskimo Subsistence in Southwest Alaska, Seattle...
- Haines and Klukwan hooligan harvesters reported that they exchanged hooligan products primarily for other food items, especially those unavailable in the Chilkat and Chilkoot area or those which were inaccessible to the harvester for various reasons. Respondents reported that virtually any wild...1994, Martha F. Betts, The Subsistence Hooligan Fishery of the Chilkat and Chilkoot Rivers, page 59
- Synonyms:
- eulachon, candlefish
Also used as
hooligan is also the ellipsis of football hooligan.
hooligan meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam and Arabic
hooligan in Hindi
- person that causes trouble or violence
- गुंडा guṇḍā
hooligan in Urdu
- person that causes trouble or violence
- گنڈا gunḍā, غنڈہ ġunḍah
hooligan in Malayalam
- person that causes trouble or violence
- ഗുണ്ട guṇṭa
hooligan in Arabic
- person that causes trouble or violence
- دَمَوِيّ damawiyy, سَفَّاح saffāḥ
More languagesFewer languages
- hooligan in Persian
- قلدر qoldor, لات lât
- hooligan in Thai
- จิ๊กโก๋ jík-gǒo, นักเลง nák-leeng
- hooligan in Vietnamese
- hô-li-gân
- hooligan in Myanmar
- လမ်းသရဲ lam:sa.rai:
Examples of hooligan in a sentence
- “You are hooligan, you try to make trouble.” Sam paused, then continued.2014, Cynthia Kadohata, Half a World Away, →ISBN:
- I frequently notice that the hooligans (a respectful reference to the U.S.1970, “Naval Engineers Journal”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 82, page 45:
- Navy crew along the rail shouted smart-ass remarks and jeered at the hooligan doing his job.2013, Elizabeth Smith Doerning; Frank A. Smith, Jr., The Travels of a Happy Hooligan, →ISBN:
- Respondents reported that virtually any wild food might be obtained for hooligan oil.1994, Martha F. Betts, The Subsistence Hooligan Fishery of the Chilkat and Chilkoot Rivers, page 59:
Synonyms of hooligan
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of hooligan
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hooligans |
| plural | hooligan |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hooligans |
| present participle | hooliganing |
| past participle | hooliganed |
| past | hooliganed |
Origin of hooligan
Probably a variant of the Irish surname Houlihan, 1890s.
Borrowed from Chinook Jargon ulakan, from Clatsop Chinook, with spelling and pronunciation influenced by the preceding.
Words formed from hooligan
Phrases with hooligan
Questions about hooligan
- What does hooligan mean?
- Hooligan means a young person who causes trouble or violence, typically as a member of a gang or other group.
- What is hooligan in Hindi?
- Hooligan in Hindi is गुंडा (guṇḍā). See Hooligan meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use hooligan in a sentence?
- “You are hooligan, you try to make trouble.” Sam paused, then continued.
- What part of speech is hooligan?
- Hooligan can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce hooligan?
- Hooligan is pronounced /ˈhuː.lɪ.ɡən/.
- What is the plural of hooligan?
- The plural of hooligan is hooligans.
Words near hooligan in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hooligan (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-hooligan.ogg, En-au-Wholigan.ogg.
Cite this entry: “hooligan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hooligan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.