rifle

noun

1

a

: a shoulder weapon with a rifled bore

b

: a rifled artillery piece

2

rifles plural : soldiers armed with rifles

Examples of rifle in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Jennings later removed a rifle from his gun safe and opened fire inside the home, prompting his family to flee and report the incident to law enforcement, court documents say. —Seamus Bozeman follow, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2026

After questioning witnesses, detectives determined Williams had gotten into a domestic dispute with another person who was with Taylor, and Williams pulled out a semiautomatic rifle and fired multiple shots, shooting Taylor in the back. —Todd Feurer, CBS News, 8 June 2026

Quintanilla-Cordova was armed with a rifle during the assaults, and Oro had a handgun, police said. —Mark Price, Charlotte Observer, 4 June 2026

The remaining weapons were found during a search of his home and included a rifle, a shotgun, and another pistol. —Bonny Chu, FOXNews.com, 1 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1756, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing rifle

• air rifle
• assault rifle
• Browning automatic rifle
• Enfield rifle
• Garand rifle
• Kentucky rifle
• rifle through
• Springfield rifle
• squirrel rifle

Rhymes for rifle

• hyphal
• stifle
• trifle

Kids Definition

rifle

1 of 4 verb

ri·​fle ˈrī-fəl 

rifled; rifling -f(ə-)liŋ 

1

: to search through fast and roughly especially in order to steal

rifled the coat pockets for loose change

2

: steal entry 1 sense 2a

rifler

-f(ə-)lər 

noun

rifle

2 of 4 verb

rifled; rifling -f(ə-)liŋ 

: to cut spiral grooves on the inside of a barrel of

rifled arms

rifle

3 of 4 noun

1

a

: a weapon with a long rifled barrel that is designed to be fired from the shoulder

b

: a rifled artillery piece

2

plural : a body of soldiers armed with rifles

rifle

4 of 4 verb

rifled; rifling -f(ə-)liŋ 

: to hit or throw a ball with great force

Etymology

Middle English riflen "to steal or carry away by force," from early French rifler "to scrape off, plunder"; of Germanic origin

perhaps from French rifler "to scratch, file," from early French, "to scrape off, plunder"