goon squad

Definitions

A group of individuals serving as enforcers, bodyguards, assassins, and the like, especially persons hired for such a purpose and using violent, thuggish methods.

US, derogatory, idiomatic, informal

Equivalents

Examples

“He denied charges that the union was using "goon squads," as strong-arm detachments are called on the West Coast, and asserted that any violence was provoked by the employers.”

“No one has ever accused Uganda's mercurial President Idi ("Big Daddy") Amin Dada of running a democracy. . . . In Kampala, the capital, much of the terror is committed by Big Daddy's personal goon squad, the 3,000-man Public Safety Unit.”

“But becoming the "Spirit Father" to a group of cave dwellers threatened by "bandits, insurgent guerrillas" and "goon squads hired by greedy logging companies" gives him a newfound purpose in life.”

CEFR level