lynch
verb (used with object)
to put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority.
lynch
1 American
[linch]
/ lɪntʃ /
verb (used with object)
-
lynches,
present (3rd person singular)
-
lynched,
past participle, past
-
lynching
present participle
-
to put to death, especially by hanging, by mob action and without legal authority.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, thousands of southern African Americans were lynched by white mobs.
-
to criticize, condemn, etc., in public.
He’s been unfairly lynched in the media.
Lynch
2
American
[linch]
/ lɪntʃ /
noun
Lynch
1
British
/ lɪntʃ /
noun
-
David. born 1946, US film director; his work includes the films Eraserhead (1977), Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), Mulholland Drive (2001), and Inland Empire (2006), and the television series Twin Peaks (1990)
-
John, known as Jack Lynch. 1917–99, Irish statesman; prime minister of the Republic of Ireland (1966–73; 1977–79)
lynch
2
British
/ lɪntʃ /
verb
Synonym Usage
See hang.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
lynchsimple
-
lynchessimple
-
have lynchedperfect
-
has lynchedperfect
-
am lynchingprogressive
-
are lynchingprogressive
-
is lynchingprogressive
-
have been lynchingperfect progressive
-
has been lynchingperfect progressive
Past
-
lynchedsimple
-
had lynchedperfect
-
was lynchingprogressive
-
were lynchingprogressive
-
had been lynchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of lynch
An Americanism first recorded in 1825–35; verb use of lynch in lynch law
Explanation
To lynch is to murder, or unlawfully kill. When an angry mob kills someone they believe is guilty of a crime, they lynch that person. Through history, when a group of people murders someone, especially by hanging him by the neck, they are usually said to lynch him. This was unfortunately not uncommon during the Civil Rights struggle of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the American South: if a white community believed an African American had done something wrong, they would sometimes lynch him. Lynch is named after Justice Charles Lynch, who condoned mob justice during the American Revolution.
Vocabulary lists containing lynch
Life Is So Good
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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Scrabble: Words with no Vowels
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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:
With the shoeshine under arrest, a Black militia gathered at a local jail to prevent a lynch mob from kidnapping and murdering him.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 3, 2023
In 1962, the white lawyer in “To Kill a Mockingbird” confronts a lynch mob intent on hanging his client, an innocent Black man, later telling the jury, “In our courts, all men are created equal.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2022
Angry readers wrote to The Times in response to my favorable review of the series, insisting I was part of a lynch mob: “Shame on you!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2021
The verb to lynch means to execute without a trial or due process.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 23, 2019
“Oh, that. Well, to hear the Post tell it, we lynch ’em for breakfast; the Journal doesn’t care; and the Times is so wrapped up in its duty to posterity it bores you to death.
From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee
Totzke had been working with Mattel in an advisory role through the end of the year, and was providing counsel to Lynch and the company’s board in recent weeks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
At least that’s been the case for me, becoming friends with David Bowie, becoming friends with Lou Reed, friends with David Lynch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
David Bowie and David Lynch both had their insecurities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026
In the shootout, Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch saved Bruno Guimaraes' spot kick before Conor Haughey scored the winning penalty to spark scenes of ecstasy on the pitch and in the stands.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
Instead, between February and June of 2007, big Wall Street firms, led by Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, created and sold $50 billion in new CDOs.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
US President Joe Biden established a national monument to honour Emmett Till, a black teenager who was lynched in 1955 in Mississippi, and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, on Tuesday.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2023
“Leopoldstadt” went on to win best play, while best musical revival went to another searing work about antisemitism: “Parade,” starring Ben Platt as Leo Frank, a Jewish man who was lynched in 1915 in Georgia.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 12, 2023
The white woman who accused Black teenager Emmett Till of making improper advances before he was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 has died in hospice care in Louisiana, a coroner’s report shows.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2023
In the 2017 Biennial, for example, the artist Dana Schutz, who is white, faced protests for painting the teenager Emmett Till, who was lynched, in his open casket.
From New York Times ● Mar. 8, 2023
As of 1920, about 13 out of every 100 black children died in infancy, or roughly 20,000 children each year—compared to 28 people who were lynched in a year.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
He added that he was "neither a rapist nor a predator" and lamented that it was his word against the "trial by media and lynching" that he faced.
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2025
In spite of all that, Diddy's mother recently defended her son on Sunday and accused the media and others of engaging in a "public lynching."
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2024
“When he was doing the Ida B. Wells, I’d come visit Richard and he’d have a stack of seven different books on Ida B. Wells — lynching, photographs and history,” Ott said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2023
The law makes lynching a federal hate crime.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 9, 2023
Mrs. Malloy says Negro people came here to escape lynching and inhumane treatment.
From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
