hangman

[ hang-muhn for 1; hang-man for 2 ]

See synonyms for hangman on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural hang·men. for 1.

a person who hangs criminals who are condemned to death; public executioner.
a word game in which one player selects a word that the other player must guess by supplying each of its letters: for each incorrect guess a part of a stick figure of a man who has been hanged is drawn.

Origin of hangman

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at hang, man

Other words from hangman

un·der·hang·man, noun, plural un·der·hang·men.

Words Nearby hangman

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use hangman in a sentence

Plus hanging with a specific hangman never stopped and still is used in New Hampshire and Washington State.
The Death Penalty’s Gruesome Truth | Kent Sepkowitz | February 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Parliament of England ordered the Book of Sports to be burned by the common hangman.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel Munsell
The solemn league and covenant burned by the common hangman at London, and afterwards throughout the country.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel Munsell
But now the hangman smokes, and the criminal condemned to death smokes before being hanged.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.
How refinedly brutal is this constant care lest the hangman be robbed of his prey!
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist | Alexander Berkman

This day among other stories he told me how despicable a thing it is to be a hangman in Poland, although it be a place of credit.
Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete | Samuel Pepys

British Dictionary definitions for hangman

hangman

/ (ˈhæŋmən) /

nounplural -men

an official who carries out a sentence of hanging on condemned criminals

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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