Word.ws English Dictionary

like gangbusters

like gangbusters prepositional phrase: vigorously, rapidly, zealously, or forcibly; in a manner which has considerable impact.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (colloquial, simile) Vigorously, rapidly, zealously, or forcibly; in a manner which has considerable impact.
    • "Put an actress in knock-out clothes and she'll come through like gangbusters."1954 December 9, Hedda Hopper, “Chandler, Baxter 'Spoilers' Costars”, in Los Angeles Times, page B12
    • Chromebooks are selling like gangbusters, but the party could be coming to an end [title]2021 July 14, Paul Lilly, “Chromebooks are selling like gangbusters, but the party could be coming to an end”, in PC Gamer

Origin of like gangbusters

From the American true crime radio drama Gang Busters (1936–1957), which opened abruptly with loud sound effects of police sirens, machine guns, etc.

Questions about like gangbusters

What does like gangbusters mean?
Like gangbusters means vigorously, rapidly, zealously, or forcibly; in a manner which has considerable impact.
What part of speech is like gangbusters?
Like gangbusters is a prepositional phrase.

Words near like gangbusters in the dictionary

  1. like flies on pie
  2. like fuck
  3. like fudge
  4. like fun
  5. like fury
  6. like gangbusters
  7. like grease through a goose
  8. like grim death
  9. like heck
  10. like hell
  11. like hey-go-mad

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: like gangbusters (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-au-like gangbusters.ogg.

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