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Synonyms

mugging

American  
[muhg-ing] / ˈmʌg ɪŋ /

noun

  1. an assault or threat of violence upon a person, especially with intent to rob.

Etymology

Origin of mugging

First recorded in 1840–50; mug + -ing 1

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.

I stand and Scrappy joins me in mean mugging Dalton.

From Literature

Too often, it looked like a regulatory mugging of children with rare diseases.

From The Wall Street Journal

Cut to the same man now mugging for the camera on a plane ride out of the United States.

From Los Angeles Times

After that earlier Warner mugging, I wrote about the “legalized economic vandalism that antitrust has become.”

From The Wall Street Journal

“It is funny that the heaviest of all awards is given by actors — ’us what we do, it means so much,’” he said, mugging ponderous emotion.

From Los Angeles Times

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.