also: もっぶ
Refers to a large, often disorderly group of people. Can carry a negative nuance of an unruly crowd.
駅前にモブが集まって騒いでいた。
A mob gathered in front of the station and was making noise.
background character; mob (in a game); NPC
Only with reading モブ
In manga, anime, and video games, refers to unnamed background characters or generic enemies (mobs). The reading モッブ is not used for this sense.
A crowd had gathered in front of the station.
In this game, you defeat mobs to earn experience points.
アニメの背景にいるモブキャラが意外と人気だ。
The background mob characters in the anime are surprisingly popular.
彼はこのアニメにモブとして登場する。
He appears in this anime as a background character.
That actor fully committed to playing a background character this time.
野次馬 specifically means onlookers or rubberneckers gathering at an incident, while モブ is a broader term for any large disorderly crowd.
暴徒 refers to a violent, rioting mob, whereas モブ can describe any large crowd without necessarily implying violence.
主人公 is the protagonist or main character, the direct opposite of モブ, the nameless background character.
counter for people
background character; mob; NPC
flash mob
plain face; nondescript face; background-character face
crowd scene
Standard katakana spelling for the English loanword 'mob'.
Rare variant spelling with geminate consonant; not commonly used.
Borrowed from English 'mob'. The variant モッブ reflects an attempt to represent the English short 'o' sound, but モブ is the standard adaptation.