Thesaurus results for THRONG

Q: How does the noun 'throng' differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of throng are crowd , crush , horde , and mob . While all these words mean "an assembled multitude," throng and horde suggest movement and pushing. // a throng of reporters // a horde of shoppers

Q: When might 'crowd' be a better fit than 'throng'?

While in some cases nearly identical to throng , crowd implies a close gathering and pressing together. // a crowd gathered

Q: When can 'crush' be used instead of 'throng'?

The synonyms crush and throng are sometimes interchangeable, but crush emphasizes the compactness of the group, the difficulty of individual movement, and the attendant discomfort. // a crush of fans

Q: Where would 'mob' be a reasonable alternative to 'throng'?

The words mob and throng are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, mob implies a disorderly crowd with the potential for violence. // an angry mob

throng 1 of 2

noun

ˈthrȯŋ

Definition of throng

as in crowd

a great number of persons or creatures massed together grabbed a megaphone and addressed the vast throng

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

throng

2 of 2

verb

as in to flock

to move upon or fill (something) in great numbers fans thronged the field to celebrate the win

Synonyms & Similar Words

Synonym Chooser

How does the noun throng differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of throng are crowd, crush, horde, and mob. While all these words mean "an assembled multitude," throng and horde suggest movement and pushing.

a throng of reporters

a horde of shoppers

When might crowd be a better fit than throng?

While in some cases nearly identical to throng, crowd implies a close gathering and pressing together.

a crowd gathered

When can crush be used instead of throng?

The synonyms crush and throng are sometimes interchangeable, but crush emphasizes the compactness of the group, the difficulty of individual movement, and the attendant discomfort.

a crush of fans

Where would mob be a reasonable alternative to throng?

The words mob and throng are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, mob implies a disorderly crowd with the potential for violence.

an angry mob

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of throng

Noun

Pawlikowski accepted his statuette from Chiwetel Ejiofor and Nicole Kidman, wiped his brow, and addressed the shining throng. — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026 Leo's visit to Paris came as a birthday present for Jean-Claude Farnabe, who turned 63 on Saturday and spent the morning securing a spot amid the throngs of people. — CBS News, 26 Sep. 2026

Verb

By the time Fly entered the booth, they were wound up and thronging the dancefloor. — Stephen Deusner, SPIN, 25 Aug. 2026 Tens of thousands thronged Tiananmen Square and surrounding streets in Beijing in 1976, after the death of Zhou Enlai, the People’s Republic’s first and widely respected premier. — Reuters, NBC news, 18 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for throng

Recent Examples of Synonyms for throng

Noun

Tim Buchanan, a legendary Aledo football head coach and Republican, also addressed Hinojosa’s roughly 250-person crowd Tuesday night.

— Rachel Royster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 28 Oct. 2026
The fall shift to standard time already brings dozens more cars to the drive-in through December, and making the change permanent could help accommodate bigger crowds year-round.

— Lila Hempel-Edgers, Chicago Tribune, 27 Oct. 2026

Definition of crowd

Verb

Maintaining a sense of normalcy and a human connection with her constituents has become increasingly difficult as opponents have dialed up their ire—most recently, flocking to Collins’s Maine office to loudly protest July’s ICE shooting.

— Chris Smith, Vanity Fair, 26 Oct. 2026
Instead, as would later happen in Kansas and Nebraska, slaveowners and Southern sympathizers on the one hand and abolitionists and Free-Soilers on the other all flocked to California to try to tip the political scales in their favor.

— Kathryn Schulz, New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of flock

Noun

There are a swarm of startups looking to use the technology to transform entertainment, but Anthropic, unlike SpaceX and OpenAI, has never spent resources on video or image models.

— Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 26 Oct. 2026
In the early eighteenth century, the village of Gais started attracting swarms of visitors, many from abroad, who wanted to sample Gaisschottenkur, a treatment featuring goat’s whey.

— D. T. Max, New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of swarm

Noun

In July, a horde of OpenAI agents broke out of their sandboxes and worked together to launch a cyberattack on the AI company Hugging Face.

— Harry Booth, Time, 20 Oct. 2026
The report describes aggressive tactics in which hordes of solicitors sit on the phones all day, calling people to get them to refinance.

— Lew Sichelman, Miami Herald, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of horde

Browse Nearby Words

thrones

throng

thronged

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Throng.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/throng. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of throng

noun

verb

Synonym Chooser

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

shindig

Popular in Grammar & Usage

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE

Popular

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes