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lynched; lynching; lynches
: to put to death (as by hanging) by mob action without legal approval or permission
The accused killer was lynched by an angry mob.
lyncher
noun
Examples of lynch in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In an omen of the horrors to come, just one year later, a white mob in Los Angeles lynched 17 Chinese men and boys in a raid on Chinatown.
—
Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 26 Nov. 2024
Inspired by true events, a conformist mother who tries to fit in her neighbourhood determines to stand up to conventions to bury her son, lynched for being gay.
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John Hopewell, Variety, 22 Nov. 2024
In the early hours of Saturday morning, the mob descended on a barbershop owned by a Black man named Scott Burton and lynched him.
—
Chelsea Bailey, CNN, 27 July 2024
Written by journalist Wright Thompson, the magazine article revisited the murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after a white woman accused him of whistling suggestively at her.
—
Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 Nov. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near lynch
Cite this Entry
“Lynch.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lynch. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.
Kids Definition
lynch
verb
: to put to death (as by hanging) by mob action without legal authority
lyncher
noun
Legal Definition
lynch
transitive verb
: to put to death (as by hanging) by mob action without legal sanction
lyncher
noun
More from Merriam-Webster on lynch
Nglish: Translation of lynch for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of lynch for Arabic Speakers
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