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

To make matters worse, a TCU star decided to take a shot at Belichick following the loss. —James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 2 Sep. 2025

Even though it's targeted at beginners and others who want something different, there’s no reason seasoned riders can’t take a shot at it. —New Atlas, 27 Aug. 2025

Tim Banks, currently Tennessee’s defensive coordinator, implored scouts to take a shot. —Alec Lewis, New York Times, 19 Aug. 2025

And a stack of Billy Joel sheet music sits atop my piano today (for you keyboard artists, take a shot at Prelude/Angry Young Man sometime). —Howard Homonoff, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2025

Rhymes for take a shot

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