1
: that is complete or effective through being done or used or applied only once
there is no easy one-shot answer to the problem
2
: that is not followed by something else of the same kind
a one-shot tax cut
one-shot noun

Examples of one-shot in a Sentence

this offer is a one-shot deal; if you refuse, you won't get another chance
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The majority of the action, however, unfolds in a claustrophobic one-shot inside a tent, with our heroes quaking at the whoops and cries surrounding them. Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 18 Oct. 2025 Only once has a rival broadcast siphoned off a significant number of Super Bowl viewers, and that was a one-shot deal. Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 17 Oct. 2025 Rank, whose company recently remade Ingmar Bergsson classic film Faithless as a European TV series, praised Adolescence for matching up the genre beats of a crime story with the higher concepts around criminality, toxic masculinity and family, and the one-shot filming techniques. Jesse Whittock, Deadline, 7 Oct. 2025 For the second dose, again, both MMRV and MMR + V are options, but the CDC stated a preference for the one-shot MMRV. Beth Mole, ArsTechnica, 18 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for one-shot

Word History

First Known Use

1907, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of one-shot was in 1907

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Cite this Entry

“One-shot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/one-shot. Accessed 24 Oct. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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