to gang up on
26
4.9
- phrasal verb
- NSFW
:
unirse contra
- Why are you two ganging up on me?
But this is the establishment ganging up on the Leave programme.
- But this is the establishment ganging up on the Leave programme.
- OK, well, your daughters ganged up on her, bullied her, told her to sleep on the floor.
- But he's been ganged up on, he's been plotted against, and we should not accept that.
Examples
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I think this has gotten slightly stupid, like you're all ganging up on Alex about his faults.
Blog text (20) -
Aaron, who says he's disabled, complains that his opponents are ganging up on him.
Blog text (13) -
My three brothers used to gang up on me.
-
To be fair, the guys did try to gang up on him in the bar.
-
Everybody gang up on Mom, who works all day and has friends like Tucker.
-
What, are you guys ganging up on me now? -
-
Are you two ganging up on me?
-
I turn my back for a second and everyone is ganging up on me!
Blog text (24) -
Okay, Gwen, just please, don't gang up on me, okay?
-
When the group of students disagreed with the teacher, they decided to gang up on him during the meeting.
Synonyms
27
4.3
To join with other people to criticize or oppose someone
Antonyms
How United
- NSFW
26
4.9
95
2.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components map reasonably well onto the meaning: 'gang' (to act as a group) + 'up' (together/collective) + 'on' (directed at a target) would lead a learner to infer joining together to criticize or attack someone. However, the exact nuance and the phrasal-verb construction require knowledge of English particle/preposition patterns and are somewhat idiomatic, so the meaning is only partially predictable from the parts.
Etymology
The phrasal verb gang up on comes from the image of several people, a gang, joining together and coming up on one person to surround or attack them. So, it now means 'to join together to criticize or attack someone'.