noun
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a stupid or deliberately foolish person
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informal a thug hired to commit acts of violence or intimidation, esp in an industrial dispute
noun
Usage
What does goon mean? Don't be a goon! That is, don't be a "fool" or an "oaf."Hired muscle, gangsters, and tough-guy hockey players are often called goons, too.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of goon
First recorded in 1920–25; shortened from dialectal gooney, variant of obsolete gony “a simpleton” (of unknown origin); influenced by the comic-strip character Alice the Goon in the series Thimble Theatre by E. C. Segar (1894–1938), American cartoonist
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hence “Jackass: Best and Last,” the goon squad’s alleged final film, is underwhelmingly tame.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 26, 2026
Private sector workers won the right to form unions and strike under the National Labor Relations Board, largely ending the union-busting and goon violence of decades past.
From Salon • Jul. 30, 2025
Now there’s a ham-fisted goon in an ill-fitting valet attendant’s coat rummaging in broad daylight through all of the keys—all of that private information, previously given in trust, handled with care, and regulated by law.
From Slate • Feb. 3, 2025
Their protests appear spontaneous and leaderless, which means there is no infrastructure for the Iranian goon squads to crack.
From Washington Post • Oct. 13, 2022
"Ain't nobody sitting back there with y'all goons. I might get goon juice on me, and don't nobody want goon juice on them. What if I can't get it off me? Then what?"
From "Ghost" by Jason Reynolds
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
