1
: a battle fought with handguns or rifles
2
: something resembling a shoot-out
broadly : showdown
3
: a shooting competition in overtime that is used to determine the winner of a game (as in soccer or hockey) tied at the end of regular play

Examples of shoot-out in a Sentence

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.
He was killed in a shoot-out with Miami-Dade County police officers. Danielle Parker, CBS News, 14 Apr. 2026 On Tuesday, Turkish police stopped an armed attack near the Israeli consulate in Istanbul in which one gunman was killed and two injured during a shoot-out with police. Lauren Kent, CNN Money, 11 Apr. 2026 Before the huge climactic shoot-out — there’s always a huge climactic shoot-out — someone casually goes through a location and places all sorts of extra guns throughout the space, hiding them in refrigerators and under pool tables and whatnot. Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 27 Mar. 2026 The movie resembles nothing so much as a classic Western, with the hero outnumbered and outgunned and a big shoot-out at the end. Literary Hub, 25 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for shoot-out

Word History

First Known Use

1948, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of shoot-out was in 1948

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Cite this Entry

“Shoot-out.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shoot-out. Accessed 25 Apr. 2026.

Kids Definition

shoot-out

noun
ˈshüt-ˌau̇t
: a battle fought with handguns or rifles
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