rogues' gallery
A set of pictures of convicted or suspected criminals used in law enforcement…A set of pictures of convicted or suspected criminals used in law enforcement investigations to help witnesses identify suspects.
Meaning
3 senses(historical)A set of pictures of convicted or suspected criminals used in law enforcement investigations to help witnesses identify suspects.
Near-synonym: lineup
(broadly)A group of people having the same (usually disreputable) characteristics.
(broadly)A set of supervillains associated with a particular superhero franchise.
Origin
From rogues (“plural of rogue (‘rascal, scoundrel’)”) + -' + gallery, popularized by the AFrom rogues (“plural of rogue (‘rascal, scoundrel’)”) + -' + gallery, popularized by the American detectives Allan Pinkerton (1819–1884) and Thomas F. Byrnes (1842–1910).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: rogues' galleriesSynonyms
1 synonymsWord family
1 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.