VocabauraVOCABAURA

press gang

n · noun

Simple meaning

A British children's television comedy-drama made up of 43 episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

prehsgang

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈpɹɛsˈɡæŋ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

n

  1. A British children's television comedy-drama consisting of 43 episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993.

noun

  1. A detachment empowered to force civilians to serve in the army or navy

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A British children's television comedy-drama consisting of 43 episodes across five series that were broadcast from 1989 to 1993.

Used this way, press gang is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in news or reporting contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • News/reporting

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “press gang”. We review each one before it appears.

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “press gang” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.