hangman

noun

hang·​man ˈhaŋ-mən 

1

: one who hangs a condemned person

also : a public executioner

2

: a game in which the object is for one player to guess the letters of an unknown word before the player who knows the word creates a stick figure of a hanged man by drawing one line for each incorrect guess

Examples of hangman in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Did Erik Menendez really play hangman with Leslie Abramson in court? —Jessica Sager, People.com, 27 Sep. 2024

The second story is about Eichmann’s prison guard, Haim (Yoav Levi), a Moroccan Jew who takes pains to make sure his charge is unharmed and delivered to the hangman’s noose in as good a shape as possible. —Christian Blauvelt, IndieWire, 28 June 2024

All About Actress Cheryl Hines On the morning of May 16, 2012, a Wednesday, Mary put on her yoga clothes and sandals, walked out to her barn, stacked three metal crates atop each other, then used a metal ladder to tie a hangman’s knot around the rafter. —Lizz Schumer, Peoplemag, 25 June 2024

In a December 2017 interview on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Cheka, the notorious predecessor of the KGB, FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov found some warm words for Lavrenty Beria, Stalin’s chief hangman, and praised aspects of Stalin’s Great Purges. —Andrei Soldatov, Foreign Affairs, 31 May 2018

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

hangman

noun

hang·​man ˈhaŋ-mən 

1

: a person who hangs condemned criminals

2

: a game in which the object is for one player to guess the letters of an unknown word before the player who knows the word creates a stick figure of a hanged man by drawing one line for each incorrect guess