take a shot

idiom

1

: to fire a gun

He took a shot and missed.

—often + at

He took a shot at the deer.

2

: to try to hit

—+ at

She took a shot at me with a snowball but missed.

3

: to propel a ball or puck toward a goal

He took a shot and scored.

4

: to make a critical or hurtful remark about someone

—+ at

They took shots at each other throughout the debate.

5

: to attempt to do something successfully

—often + at

Take a shot at the math problem.

I never changed a tire before, but I'll take a shot at it.

6

informal : to photograph something

—often + of

Be sure to take a shot of the house.

Examples of take a shot in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Kind of an old-school senior (type of) player, not afraid to take a shot, make a shot and bark at the bench. —David Aldridge, New York Times, 19 June 2025

The junior knifed through traffic, and decided to take a shot himself with nowhere else to turn. —Brendan Connelly, Boston Herald, 15 June 2025

Rather than take a shot, Prior dished to Reid Habas, who connected from short range. —Clark Fahrenthold, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 May 2025

Ford also couldn’t help but take a shot at the very public demise of the Musk-Trump partnership. —Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 5 June 2025

Rhymes for take a shot

• aeronaut
• aforethought
• afterthought
• apricot
• argonaut
• astronaut
• camelot
• coffeepot
• concordat
• cosmonaut
• entrepot
• flowerpot