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skinhead

skinhead

61 8.7
A person with very short hair in a youth group often known for clothes and political views
  • noun
  • /ˈskɪnˌhɛd/
translation icon : skinhead
  • Skinhead Fat Seth Ryan, early twenties, and his two skinhead buddies can't compete against the better, predominantly black team.
  • a skinhead group
  • a skinhead gang
  • punks and skinheads

And he would go out with other skinheads and beat up black people.

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Examples

  • Excuse me, the skinheads are here.

  • Your sister's getting engaged, and you're watching this skinhead boy!

  • Yeah, now people are gonna think I look like a skinhead.

  • The agent said, "How many skinheads do you have around here, Sheriff?"

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Police with hoses try to keep a mob of skinheads under control.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • As he waits, Danny turns and watches the skinheads enough to make them aware of him.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • He'd isolate a teenager at one of the many local skinhead bars and strike up a conversation.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • Serafine points out a gang of four militant skinheads off in a corner.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Mods, skinheads.

  • After he shaved his head, he embraced his new identity as a skinhead and joined the local youth subculture.

Synonyms

skin
vsskinhead
  • Slang
12 9.9

A person in a group often with a shaved head who sometimes acts violently

is described more neutrally, focusing on haircut, clothing, and varied social attitudes

Surface Forms

skinhead singular
skinheads plural

Morphology

skinhead = skin + head (semi-transparent) = skin + head

The components 'skin' and 'head' are obvious, but the sense referring to a social youth subculture and its cultural/political connotations is specialized and not fully predictable from the parts.

Etymology

Skinhead comes from British youth groups in the 1960s and is simply skin + head because members often wore their hair very short or 'shaved'. So skinhead now means a person from that youth group or style, known for a shaved head and a particular dress or set of social or political views, though not all skinheads share the same beliefs.