throng
UK/θɹɒŋ//θɹɔŋ/
throng noun: a group of people crowded or gathered closely together.
Noun
throng (plural throngs)
- A group of people crowded or gathered closely together.
- Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,
The lowest of your throng.1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished... - Perhaps you suppose this throng / Can't keep it up all day long?1885, Gilbert and Sullivan, The Mikado, act 1
- Not to know me argues yourselves unknown,
- A group of things; a host or swarm.
- Bloody corpses, broken bones reveal / A throng of clashes crushed, our nightmare sealed / Amongst the shadows and the stones2020, “Amongst the Shadows & the Stones”, in What the Dead Men Say, performed by Trivium
Verb
throng (third-person singular simple present throngs, present participle thronging, simple past and past participle thronged)
- To crowd into a place, especially to fill it.
- By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed, and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.1935, George Goodchild, chapter 5, in Death on the Centre Court
- Gay sex remains illegal but is rarely prosecuted, and an estimated 26,000 revelers thronged this year’s annual Pink Dot gay rights rally — one of the largest public gatherings of any sort seen in recent years.2014 July 11, Charlie Campbell, “Singapore Provokes Outrage by Pulping Kids’ Books About Gay Families”, in Time, archived from the original on 02 Nov 2024
- To congregate.
- […]I have seen the dumb men throng to see him and / The blind to bear him speak:[…]c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
- To crowd or press, as persons; to oppress or annoy with a crowd of living beings.
- Much people followed him, and thronged him.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 5:24
- A third is wroth: ‘Is this an hour
For private sorrow’s barren song,
When more and more the people throng
The chairs and thrones of civil power?’1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 35
Adjective
throng (comparative thronger, superlative throngest)
- Filled with persons or objects; crowded.
- Earth, sweet Earth, sweet landscape, with leavès throng / And louchèd low grass, heaven that dost appeal / To, with no tongue to plead, no heart to feel; / That canst but only be, but dost that long— […]1882, Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Ribblesdale”, in Robert Bridges, editor, Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins: Now First Published […], London: Humphrey Milford, published 1918, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 54
- Busy; hurried.
- Mr Shaw was very civil; he said he was rather throng just now, but if Ernest did not mind the sound of hammering he should be very glad of a talk with him.1903, Samuel Butler, chapter 59, in The Way of All Flesh
- [P]eople were having holidays all round the world, though the Glasgow shops and offices and factories were as throng with business as ever.1992, Alasdair Gray, Poor Things, Bloomsbury, published 2002, page 200
throng meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
throng in Tamil
- கூட்டம், கும்பல், திரள்
throng in Urdu
- چپقلش, ہجوم, ہجوم لگانا
throng in Malayalam
- പുരുഷാരം, ആൾത്തിരക്ക്, ജനസമ്മർദ്ദം
throng in Kannada
- ಕಿಕ್ಕಿರಿದ ಜನಸಮೂಹ, ಜನಸಂದಣಿ, ತುಕ್ಕು, ಕಿಕ್ಕಿರಿ, ಕಿಕ್ಕಿರಿಗೊಳ್, ದಟ್ಟವಾಗು
More languagesFewer languages
- throng in Persian
- جمعیت jam'eyat
Examples of throng in a sentence
- I imagine throngs of people – well-dressed, sipping spritzes – in front of a boat that, to me, is a coffin which held 700 people.2019 May 12, Lorenzo Tondo, “I have seen the tragedy of Mediterranean migrants. This ‘art’ makes me feel uneasy”, in The Guardian:
- On arrival at Edinburgh Waverley, I fight my way through the throngs of tourists and locals turning the place into a human anthill.2024 November 27, Paul Bigland, “Around the UK on nearly 80 trains...”, in RAIL, number 1023, page 48:
- Pulling my hat down over my eyes, so as to hide somewhat the emotions which had thronged my countenance, I took a long look at the man whom I so long had sought.1861, E. J. Guerin, Mountain Charley, page 24:
Synonyms of throng
Forms of throng
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | throngs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | throngs |
| present participle | thronging |
| past participle | thronged |
| past | thronged |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | thronger |
| superlative | throngest |
Origin of throng
From Middle English throng, thrang, from Old English þrang, ġeþrang (“crowd, press, tumult”), from Proto-Germanic *þrangwą, *þrangwō (“throng”), from *þrangwaz (“pressing, narrow”), from *þrinhwaną (“to press, to push; to force”), from Proto-Indo-European *trenkʷ- (“to beat; pound; hew; press”). Cognate with Dutch drang, German Drang. Compare also German Gedränge (“throng”) and Persian ترنجیدن (Trenjidan, “to beat, to push”). Compare typologically crowd (see there for more).
Words formed from throng
Words that rhyme with throng
Questions about throng
- What does throng mean?
- Throng means a group of people crowded or gathered closely together.
- What is throng in Tamil?
- Throng in Tamil is கூட்டம், கும்பல், திரள். See Throng meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use throng in a sentence?
- I imagine throngs of people – well-dressed, sipping spritzes – in front of a boat that, to me, is a coffin which held 700 people.
- What part of speech is throng?
- Throng can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce throng?
- Throng is pronounced /θɹɒŋ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of throng?
- The plural of throng is throngs.
Words near throng in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: throng (page history and authors); throng (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); throng (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); throng (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); throng (Kannada Wiktionary) (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-us-throng.ogg.
Cite this entry: “throng.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/throng. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.