ma·chine-gun
mə-ˈshēn-ˌgən 
: characterized by rapidity and sharpness : rapid-fire
a comic's machine-gun delivery
machine-gunned; machine-gunning; machine-guns
: to shoot at, wound, or kill (someone or something) with a machine gun
… machine-gunned a marauding gang of terrorists outside the U.S. embassy …—
Terry Eagleton
Terry EagletonA few years later someone machine-gunned to death the prosecutor who wanted to try the group for killing the soldiers.—Paul Berman
Paul Berman
machine gunner
noun
or less commonly machine-gunner
plural machine gunners also machine-gunners
These battalions were composed of the hardened infantrymen—riflemen, machine gunners, grenadiers, and mortarmen—who carried the main burden of the war.
—Shelby L. Stanton
Shelby L. Stanton
plural machine guns
: a gun for sustained rapid fire that uses bullets
broadly
: an automatic weapon
Examples of machine-gun in a Sentence
Noun
They heard the sound of machine-gun fire.
Recent Examples on the Web
David Hambling, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
But the Puerto Rican legend’s abandonment of her machine-gun reputation proved fatal in the final rounds.
—Mark Puleo, New York Times, 12 July 2025
Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Aug. 2025
Typically these include cargo carrying, casualty evacuation, mine laying, one-way attacks with explosive warheads, and direct combat using machine-gun turrets.
—David Hambling, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Aug. 2025
Soldiers marched the victims to bomb craters at Kamianets-Podilskyi and turned machine guns on them; the victims were either shot or smothered.
—Lorenzino Estrada, AZCentral.com, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for machine-gun
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Adjective
Typically these include cargo carrying, casualty evacuation, mine laying, one-way attacks with explosive warheads, and direct combat using machine-gun turrets.
—David Hambling, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
But the Puerto Rican legend’s abandonment of her machine-gun reputation proved fatal in the final rounds.
—Mark Puleo, New York Times, 12 July 2025
Verb
Warning Shots North Korea issued a scathing statement Saturday criticizing South Korea for firing more than 10 machine-gun warning shots on Tuesday as North Korean troops worked on a barrier near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), the de facto border.
—Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Aug. 2025
Typically these include cargo carrying, casualty evacuation, mine laying, one-way attacks with explosive warheads, and direct combat using machine-gun turrets.
—David Hambling, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
Noun
Gun safety advocates, like Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, are calling on California state legislators to enact Assembly Bill 1127, which would prohibit the sale of pistols that can be converted into machine guns.
—U T Readers, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Aug. 2025
Soldiers marched the victims to bomb craters at Kamianets-Podilskyi and turned machine guns on them; the victims were either shot or smothered.
—Lorenzino Estrada, AZCentral.com, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for machine-gun
Cite this Entry
“Machine-gun.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/machine-gun. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.
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