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

Media attacks and the whole lynch-mob mentality seem to go along with our trials these days.

From The Daily Beast

Accounts from reporters of the mood in the newsroom ranged from “lynch mob” to “stunned silence.”

From The Daily Beast

While Twitter can uphold standards, it can also enforce a new kind of uniformity, particularly when it goes into lynch mob mode.

From The Daily Beast

Abrams said the White House had joined an anti-Israeli “lynch mob.”

From The Daily Beast

I'm not going to quit a job that people hired me to do because of false accusations and a political lynch mob.

From The Daily Beast

You're a respectable-looking duck; you ever have any experience leading a lynch mob?

From Project Gutenberg

Could it be that city officials were working hand in glove with the lynch mob?

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• detachment