as in to attack
to criticize harshly and usually publicly
The comic ended the show with a rant in which he potshot an assortment of celebrities.
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Recent Examples of potshot
Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 7 Apr. 2025
Soon, the pair are playing long-distance chess, air drumming, and taking competitive potshots at one another’s dishware.
—Graham Hillard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 28 Feb. 2025
Instead Trump has taken verbal potshots at California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and President Biden, suggesting their actions are to blame for the failure to contain the fires.
—Niall Stanage, The Hill, 8 Jan. 2025
New Hampshire’s lower chamber has four hundred people, nearly double the second-largest state legislature in the country, so there were plenty of representatives willing to take potshots at the hawk and belittle the children who wanted to honor it.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 28 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for potshot
Verb
In a separate tweet, Ackman also took potshots at U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
—Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 7 Apr. 2025
Soon, the pair are playing long-distance chess, air drumming, and taking competitive potshots at one another’s dishware.
—Graham Hillard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 28 Feb. 2025
Instead Trump has taken verbal potshots at California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and President Biden, suggesting their actions are to blame for the failure to contain the fires.
—Niall Stanage, The Hill, 8 Jan. 2025
New Hampshire’s lower chamber has four hundred people, nearly double the second-largest state legislature in the country, so there were plenty of representatives willing to take potshots at the hawk and belittle the children who wanted to honor it.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 28 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for potshot
Recent Examples of Synonyms for potshot
Verb
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This infection attacks your stomach lining and causes inflammation.—
Sayaka Blickenderfer,
Health,
28 June 2025
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The wild and ugly scenes saw rioters attack law enforcement with rocks and Molotov cocktails while others burned vehicles and other property.—
Michael Dorgan,
FOXNews.com,
28 June 2025
Noun
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Markets will therefore respond faster than during the opening salvo: latency charts and options pricing will register movement before headlines populate newsfeeds.—
Guney Yildiz,
Forbes.com,
24 June 2025
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The final, sixth salvo may have been launched minutes past the ceasefire deadline, leading Israel to respond.—
Brady Knox,
The Washington Examiner,
24 June 2025
Verb
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Jewish advocacy groups slammed President Donald Trump for using an anti-Semitic descriptor on Thursday during his Iowa speech celebrating the passage of his spending bill.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
4 July 2025
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Beshear slammed Republicans in support of the bill, accusing them of abandoning constituents who depend on the programs.—
Killian Baarlaer,
The Courier-Journal,
4 July 2025
Noun
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To be fair, the drone barrages may still have aided Iran by diverting attention from ballistic missiles and compelling expenditures of expensive missiles.—
Sebastien Roblin,
Forbes.com,
1 July 2025
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The barrage included targets in Western Ukraine, a region far from the front lines that doesn't often see bombardments.—
Greg Dixon,
NPR,
30 June 2025
Verb
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In a series of posts on Truth Social, Trump has repeatedly insulted Powell and called him names.—
Jim Edwards,
Fortune,
26 June 2025
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In particular, its retread of plot elements that had already been rehashed to death was annoying and borderline insulting at this point.—
Fran Ruiz,
Space.com,
24 June 2025
Noun
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Iran responded by launching volleys of missiles at Israeli targets in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.—
Zachary Folk,
Forbes.com,
26 June 2025
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Advertisement The fragile ceasefire appeared to come about quickly late Monday, after Iran retaliated to the U.S. airstrike with a dangerous but largely symbolic volley of ballistic missiles targeting major U.S. base in Qatar.—
Brian Bennett,
Time,
24 June 2025
Verb
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Paul Krugman has referred to deficit hawks as ‘deficit scolds’, because the spend more time warning about the dangers of the deficit than fixing it.—
Mike O'Sullivan,
Forbes.com,
28 June 2025
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Musk and Gor reportedly clashed in Cabinet meetings where Musk scolded Gor over personnel disagreements in recent months.—
Ally Goelz,
The Washington Examiner,
19 June 2025
Noun
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Iranian news reports said a new fusillade of missiles had been fired toward Israel.—
Francesca Chambers,
USA Today,
21 June 2025
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Trump earlier in the day had ripped Musk on camera and on social media, as the man who funneled hundreds of millions to Trump’s presidential campaign unleashed a fusillade against him.—
Ian Swanson,
The Hill,
6 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Potshot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/potshot. Accessed 11 Jul. 2025.
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