lynch mob

[ linch mob ]

noun

1. a crowd of people without legal authority who are intent on putting someone to death for an alleged offense:

   The city was once a real frontier town of gunslingers, lynch mobs, and vigilante justice.

   African Americans were regularly attacked by white lynch mobs if they "stepped out of line."

2. a group of people who publicly accuse and attack someone in a vicious way in an effort to destroy their reputation:

   After his controversial ruling, the judge was the victim of a lynch mob on social media.

adjective

1. Also lynch-mob. relating to or characteristic or reminiscent of a group of people trying to destroy someone’s reputation or kill someone without legal authority:

   There was a lynch mob mentality coming out in a number of the posts, so the moderator shut down the thread.

   The basic facts of the incident were lost in the lynch-mob atmosphere that prevailed on campus.

verb (used with object)

1. none lynch-mob. (of a group) to publicly accuse and attack someone in a vicious way in an effort to destroy their reputation:

   Let's try to be fair and not lynch-mob the whole video gaming industry over this one bad outcome.

Word History and Origins

Origin of lynch mob¹

First recorded in 1830–40

Example Sentences

Like the convenor of a lynch mob, Trump’s dark power is fueled by an alchemy that makes people feel bigger and bolder unified in the hate that energizes and defines them.

From Salon

Social media footage of the lynch mob showed police looking on as a woman locals believed to be responsible was brutally attacked.

From BBC

“What’s really disturbing and alarming is that Aldean’s lynch mob anthem about murdering protesters and people who burn the American flag went to the top of the music charts this summer.”

From Los Angeles Times

With the shoeshine under arrest, a Black militia gathered at a local jail to prevent a lynch mob from kidnapping and murdering him.

From Seattle Times

The archdiocese received a complaint alleging that the priest had fomented “a lynch mob mentality.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• detachment