throng

/θrɔŋ/

/θrɒŋ/

Other forms: thronged; throngs; thronging

A throng is a crowd of people or animals. On the crowded platform, the throng of passengers attempted to push their way into the already overcrowded subway car.

When used as a noun, throng means a tightly packed crowd of people or animals. As a verb, it means to push together or squeeze into an area. The science fiction movie fans thronged into the auditorium when they heard their favorite actor had entered the building. The word comes to us from the Middle English term meaning "push" or "force one's way," which is exactly what you'd have to do if you got stuck inside a throng of people.

Definitions of throng

1. noun

   a large gathering of people
   synonyms: concourse, multitude

   types:

   hive

   a teeming multitude

   horde, host, legion

   a vast multitude

   herd, ruck

   a crowd especially of ordinary or undistinguished persons or things

   type of:

   assemblage, gathering

   a group of persons together in one place
2. verb

   press tightly together or cram
   synonyms: jam, mob, pack, pile

   type of:

   crowd, crowd together

   to gather together in large numbers