scattergun

noun or adjective

scat·​ter·​gun ˈska-tər-ˌgən 

: shotgun

Examples of scattergun in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But the scattergun decisions emerging from the VAR centre in Dallas led to goals being disallowed for minor ‘offences’ that would never lead to the award of a penalty had the players’ roles been reversed. — Graham Scott, New York Times, 22 July 2026

Former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp ushered in that transition over many years of careful, targeted spending on two to three key players each summer rather than scattergun recruitment. — Steve Kornacki, NBC news, 1 May 2026

Unlike the scattergun approach of traditional OEMs, Longbow will be targeted, launching country by country. — Richard Aucock, Robb Report, 15 Jan. 2026

For Garcia, who joined in 2022, the mission was to modernize carefully and slowly, as opposed to a scattergun embrace of trends. — Lela London, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2025

With a view to financing the rebuilding of Ukraine, Summers said the World Bank needs to emphasize speed of execution over its current more scattergun approach to development financing. — Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune, 11 Oct. 2022

The odds are that when facing a black-box situation, the evildoer will resort to using a scattergun approach in hopes that something will do the trick for them. — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 16 May 2022

Rhodes and his bandmates Simon Le Bon, John Taylor and Roger Taylor also answered a round of scattergun questions. — Lars Brandle, Billboard, 3 Aug. 2021

The general scattergun nature of it all reflects the need to fill an information void created when a first-year AD who’s never hired a coach before goes it alone without the help of a search firm. — Zach Osterman, The Indianapolis Star, 22 Mar. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1836, in the meaning defined above