goombah

noun

goom·bah ˈgüm-ˌbä

plural goombahs

informal : a close friend or associate

—used especially among Italian-American men

informal + disparaging : a member of a secret chiefly Italian-American crime organization : mafioso

broadly : gangster

informal, often disparaging + offensive : an Italian American

Examples of goombah in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Her goombah was Rocky Graziano, who was a major middleweight champion. —

Josef Adalian, Vulture, 8 Dec. 2021

Word History

Etymology

Italian dialect (Campania) cumbà, vocative form of cumbare respected older man, literally, godfather, from Medieval Latin compater — more at compeer

First Known Use

1952, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of goombah was in 1952

See more words from the same year