straphanger

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But Mr. Williams understands that telling the story properly requires acknowledging the forgotten citizen of New York City in the 1980s—the wary pedestrian and the terrified straphanger.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026

When they raise a fist in the air, it looks less like the defiant punch of striking workers or a Black Power salute than like the stance of a straphanger, pendant and insecure.

From New York Times • Jun. 5, 2024

It may have looked ridiculous to other drivers, like I was imitating a subway straphanger — aping public transportation in the most private transportation there is — but I didn’t care.

From Washington Post • Oct. 30, 2022

The straphanger turned the pic in to police, who then used it to identify the alleged transit troublemaker a week later.

From Fox News • May 25, 2019

The real value of co-operation was illustrated the other day on the Underground Railway when a lady complained that a straphanger was standing on her foot.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 158, March 3rd, 1920 by Various