ninja

American  

[nin-juh] / ˈnɪn dʒə /

noun

plural

ninja, ninjas

1. (often initial capital letter) a member of a feudal Japanese society of mercenary agents highly trained in martial arts and stealth ninjutsu, who were hired for covert purposes ranging from espionage to sabotage and assassination.

2. a person who is expert or highly skilled in a specified field or activity (often used attributively).

   marketing ninjas; ninja programmers.

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verb (used with object)

ninjaed, ninjaing

1. Slang. Also ninja loot (in a video game) to unfairly claim (valuable items or loot) from a treasure pool by taking them from a kill made by another player or bypassing the agreed-upon system for loot distribution in a group.

   When I ninja an epic item, I log off the server before anyone even realizes what happened.

ninja British  

/ ˈnɪndʒə /

noun

1. (sometimes capital) a person skilled in ninjutsu, a Japanese martial art characterized by stealthy movement and camouflage

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Etymology

Origin of ninja

First recorded in 1960–65; from Japanese, equivalent to nin- “endure” + -ja, combining form of -sha “person, agent” (from Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chinese rěn + zhě )

Example Sentences

“He’s like a ninja when he wants to be. Hopefully, you can meet him next time. Come on. My room’s this way.”

From Literature

“Polar bears have like four inches of blubber. They’re so good at retaining heat they don’t even show up when you film them with infrared cameras. They’re like arctic ninjas!”

From Literature

The story follows Toto, a cat that is completely blind but uses ninja skills which aid her in her adventures with her brother Silver.

From BBC

Luckily, the rest of the task went well, partly thanks to Mohammed, who Garraway described as a "puzzle ninja".

From BBC

The first of these revival projects, ninja adventure Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, slashed its way on to some critics' game of the year shortlists when it came out last month.

From BBC