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.
See Examples For:
Doubling Starlink subscriptions to 12 million from a year earlier pales in comparison with talk about life on Mars and social-media posts highlighting AI goon slop.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
Talking to AFP, he initially insisted: "I'm a goon, and I'm proud to say that."
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 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
The unwieldy action rom-com “Novocaine” makes a convincing argument that its lead, Jack Quaid, can do it all: woo the girl, shoot the goon and tickle the audience.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2025
I didn’t want to tell him in front of everyone what Will and his goon had done, and definitely not before the game.
From "Here to Stay" by Sara Farizan
Police spokesperson Michael Muchiri told AFP that claims the force works alongside goons are "preposterous", suggesting the above incidents involved rogue officers who were now under investigation.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
As the Bank of Southwark went public in Philadelphia, investors hired muscular goons to sign their names into the subscription books conferring the right to buy shares.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
But Kornev is young and infused with an idealistic zeal, refusing to let these goons stonewall him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2026
It also highlighted the role of opportunists who infiltrated the protests – described as "goons" – who "undermined the principles of peaceful assembly".
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2025
Calvin Butts was one of Jordan McCreevey’s two goons.
From "Eleven" by Tom Rogers
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
