rogues' gallery

noun

1. a collection of portraits of criminals and suspects maintained by the police for purposes of identification.

rogues' gallery

noun

1. a collection of photographs of known criminals kept by the police for identification purposes
2. a group of undesirable people

Word History and Origins

Origin of rogues' gallery¹

First recorded in 1855–60

Idioms and Phrases

A police collection of pictures of criminals and suspects kept for identification purposes. For example, The detective went through the entire rogues' gallery but couldn't find a match with the suspect . [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

The endless malleability of this part of the DC Comic universe is related to knowing that its hero and most of its core rogues’ gallery, even at their most fantastical, are subject to the laws of physics, including socioeconomic gravity.

From Salon

After a deep dive into Batman’s rogues gallery and noticing how many of them existed in reaction to Batman, Reeves considered a version of the Penguin who had yet to reach the status of a feared crime boss.

From Los Angeles Times

With Richard Beckinsale as his impressionable cellmate Lennie Godber, the series has a colourful rogues’ gallery of prisoners played by a cast including Brian Glover, Tony Osoba, Christopher Biggins, David Jason and Peter Vaughan.

From BBC

Military Academy at West Point that his agency was concerned about “a rogues’ gallery” of foreign organizations calling for violence against Americans.

From Los Angeles Times

But the top Republicans are more of a rogues’ gallery of troublemakers than some ideologically coherent group: Reps.

From Slate