gangsta
- noun
- /ˈɡæŋstə/
- Slang
- Kwame was just a young "gangsta" wanna-be thug from a politically connected family.
Examples
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He dressed like a gangsta, complete with oversized clothes and gold chains.
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The movie portrayed a young gangsta trying to escape the violence of street life.
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- That was straight gangsta!
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Inside, Angel is just covering herself up after being with a gangsta.
Fiction book (1993) -
But I want you to know something happened to me at the height of gangsta rap, and this is what happened.
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But it's like an old gangsta proverb, yo.
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What up, gangsta?
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This guy's a gangsta?
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The lucky man kissing her is her boyfriend, Markell, a small-time drug dealer and former gangsta.
Fiction book (1993) -
In his new album, the artist embraces his identity as a gangsta and addresses social issues.
Synonyms
A violent person who attacks or threatens others
A violent person hired to threaten or hurt others
A young person who does violent street crimes
A young person who steals, fights, or causes trouble with a gang
A person who joins a criminal gang and often takes part in violent acts
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Gangsta comes from the word gangster, which is built on gang meaning 'a group', and the ending -er often changed to -a in hip-hop speech, dropping the final 'r'. So gangsta names a person who is in a gang or who copies that 'tough' street life.