hotshot

noun

hot·​shot ˈhät-ˌshät 

plural hotshots

1

: a talented or successful person who often has a showy or flashy manner

There are, of course, people here who believe that most Washington hotshots, journalistic as well as governmental, are fatly overpaid already …

—Meg Greenfield

… some young hotshots are leaving mutual funds … to set up hedge funds at a rate of more than one a day.

—Mitchell Pacelle

—often used before another noun

a hotshot actor

These days, the only teasing that Leinart gets is from friends who tell him that he doesn't take advantage of being a hotshot college quarterback.

—Phil Taylor

2

: a person trained to fight forest fires especially in remote areas

As a hotshot, his job was to rappel from helicopters into wildfires across the country.

—Anton L. Delgado and Dustin Patar

—often used before another noun

[Firefighter Zachary] Resnick said his hotshot crew used to get a break fighting wildfires from late November to late spring. Now, they're on duty nearly year-round.

—Lilia Luciano

3

: a fast freight train

First is a hotshot, LADAF, an automobile and trailer train from Los Angeles to Dallas ("F" stands for Forwarder). Its route through Texas is roundabout, so LADAF has to really move, and move it does …

—Fred W. Frailey

Synonyms

• ace
• adept
• artist
• authority
• cognoscente
• connoisseur
• crackerjack
• crackajack
• dab [chiefly British]
• dab hand [chiefly British]
• expert
• fiend
• geek
• guru
• hand
• maestro
• master
• maven
• mavin
• meister
• past master
• proficient
• scholar
• shark
• sharp
• virtuoso
• whiz
• wizard

Examples of hotshot in a Sentence

The company has hired a couple of young hotshots to revamp its advertising campaign.

That guy thinks he's a real hotshot.

Recent Examples on the Web

But he's also got a hotshot attorney from Los Angeles on his side in an unofficial capacity – and prosecutors don't like it. —Kimi Robinson, USA Today, 9 May 2025

Carle, the hotshot University of Denver coach, makes sense as a top target, though. —Fluto Shinzawa, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025

Founded by early Facebook investor Ali Partovi, Neo has made big bets on founders of hotshot AI startups Pika and Anysphere, the company behind coding tool Cursor. —Richard Nieva, Forbes.com, 16 Apr. 2025

Suddenly, the glossy, eminently bingeable legal drama — which centered around hotshot corporate attorney Harvey’s decision to hire brilliant college dropout Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) as his new associate, and the inevitable cover-up and fallout from their long con — got a new lease on life. —Max Gao, HollywoodReporter, 11 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1922, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Rhymes for hotshot

• allot
• barat
• begot
• besought
• bethought
• bloodshot
• boycott
• buckshot
• crackpot
• croat
• culottes
• dashpot

Kids Definition

hotshot

noun

hot·​shot ˈhät-ˌshät 

: a showily skillful person