gang

«gang» in Mova's school dictionary: a group of friends who spend time together — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a gang, gangs); verb (gang up, gangs up, ganged up, ganging up)

meaning for a pupil

1) A gang is a group of friends who spend time together. tree →

2) A gang is a group of criminals or of young people who cause trouble or fights. tree →

3) A gang is a group of workers doing a job together. tree →

4) To gang up on someone is to join together against one person. tree →

5) In Scottish speech, gang means to go. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories a friendly gang of children has adventures; in safety lessons pupils learn about dangerous gangs and how to say no; in friendship lessons, ganging up on someone is a kind of bullying. Phrases: «a gang of friends», «gang up on», «the whole gang», «a criminal gang».

examples

• The whole gang came to my birthday party. tree →
• A gang of robbers stole the jewels. tree →
• It's not fair to gang up on one person. tree →
• The gang built a den in the woods. tree →
• A gang of workers repaired the railway. tree →
• The police arrested the gang leader. tree →
• If older kids pressure you to join a gang, tell a trusted adult. tree →

note

Countable. A group noun: «the gang is» or «the gang are» (UK). The friendly meaning and the criminal meaning are very different; look at the story to decide. Ganging up is bullying.

In the corpora

• Lily simply refused to join the «our street» gang: her best friend lives on Station Road.
• Refusing to join a gang is allowed, and it is often the bravest choice in the group.
• A gang name can make someone feel important, but it does not make them safer or more respected by people who matter.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «gang» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.