semiautomatic

adjective

semi·​au·​to·​mat·​ic ˌse-mē-ˌȯ-tə-ˈma-tik 

ˌse-ˌmī-, 

-mi-

: not fully automatic: such as

a

: operated partly automatically and partly by hand

b

of a firearm : able to fire repeatedly through an automatic reloading process but requiring release and another pressure of the trigger for each successive shot

a semiautomatic rifle

semiautomatic noun

semiautomatically

ˌse-mē-ˌȯ-tə-ˈma-ti-k(ə-)lē 

ˌse-ˌmī-, 

-mi-

adverb

Examples of semiautomatic in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The employee opened the door and one of the suspects pointed a black semiautomatic gun at him. — Frederick Sutton Sinclair, CBS News, 20 Aug. 2026

While the lawsuit filed this week deals with bans on popular handguns, a pair of lawsuits dealing with bans on some semiautomatic rifles is set to be heard by the Supreme Court in its upcoming term. — Jack Birle, The Washington Examiner, 14 Aug. 2026

Federal agents raided a Miami Gardens home this week and found a machine gun-making factory, along with homemade, automatic weapons and devices used to switch semiautomatic weapons to fully-automatic firearms, according to a criminal complaint. — David Goodhue, Miami Herald, 14 Aug. 2026

The Kern County District Attorney said that the 12-year-old is facing additional charges of two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and possession of a handgun by a minor in a charging sheet shared with PEOPLE. — Rachel McRady, PEOPLE, 12 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1853, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for semiautomatic

• antidemocratic
• bacteriostatic
• heterochromatic
• idiosyncratic
• paleoclimatic
• achromatic
• acrobatic
• adriatic
• aliphatic
• antistatic
• aromatic
• astigmatic