smoking gun

noun

: something that serves as conclusive evidence or proof (as of a crime or scientific theory)

Examples of smoking gun in a Sentence

This document is the smoking gun that proves that he was lying.
Recent Examples on the Web
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Neither collection of documents contains a smoking gun. Ronan Farrow, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2026 There are still few smoking guns pointing to employers actually replacing human workers with AI agents. Claire Zillman, Fortune, 3 Apr. 2026 In all, there’s no smoking guns here, but the leak provides an intriguing peek behind the curtain — as well as easy fodder for any competitors looking to reverse engineer the company’s tech. Frank Landymore, Futurism, 1 Apr. 2026 But Jessi considers Gabi the real smoking gun. Kathleen Walsh, Vulture, 12 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for smoking gun

Word History

First Known Use

1974, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of smoking gun was in 1974

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Cite this Entry

“Smoking gun.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/smoking%20gun. Accessed 9 Apr. 2026.

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