How to Use shoot-out in a Sentence

shoot-out

noun
  • Sure enough, someone pulls a gun, and a shoot-out ensues.
    Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 31 Jan. 2025
  • The shoot-out with the Libyans is replaced by a plutonium mishap, and the dog is gone, too.
    Frank Rizzo, Variety, 3 Aug. 2023
  • Boasting all the one-liners, shoot-outs, and stunts one would expect from the genre — all grounded in the seedy world of the '70s L.A.
    Dennis Perkins, EW.com, 17 Jan. 2024
  • He later was killed by the Oakland Police in a shoot-out.
    Gayle Fleming, CNN, 20 Feb. 2023
  • But the sequence in the middle, an apartment-set shoot-out, posed a problem.
    Vulture, 31 Mar. 2023
  • The suspect was killed days later in a shoot-out with police in Milan.
    NBC News, 21 Dec. 2024
  • The actors appeared relieved when England won the stressful shoot-out and were able to get on with their show.
    Marina Watts, Peoplemag, 8 July 2024
  • The rest is a strictly routine pileup of car crashes, shoot-outs and wisecracks.
    David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 July 2024
  • The script called for Baldwin’s character, an outlaw named Harland Rust, to prepare for a shoot-out in the chapel.
    Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2024
  • Still, the shoot-out goes how shoot-outs tend to on TV: No one is that great at shooting, so there are tons of bullets flying and only a few hits.
    Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 6 Apr. 2025
  • Anybody knows that ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ is really just a song about a shoot-out between us and the police.
    Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 7 Sep. 2023
  • After a standoff and shoot-out in which Horace kills the crew, Kimmie admits to going along with Angel’s plan to rob him.
    Declan Gallagher, EW.com, 1 Nov. 2024
  • One of the thieves was later wounded by a police officer in a shoot-out at the Les Halles shopping center, roughly a mile-and-a-half away.
    Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 3 May 2023
  • The shoot-out had been nervy so far, Sweden matching the United States miss for miss, goal for goal—from newcomers and seasoned players alike.
    Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 6 Aug. 2023
  • The eerie minute of film features a brutal shoot-out between multiple characters, and the footage ends with the sounds of bullets being fired.
    Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 Mar. 2025
  • They are believed to have fled on foot following the shoot-out, authorities added.
    Latoya Gayle, People.com, 23 Mar. 2025
  • The Turkish international also made the decisive save in the shoot-out from Kai Havertz.
    Sam Pilger, Forbes, 12 Jan. 2025
  • Police involved in an active shoot-out with a suspect in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
    Doha Madani, NBC News, 24 Aug. 2023
  • Every episode is just compelling and action packed enough, and because police in the U.K. don’t carry guns, every episode doesn’t just end in a ridiculous shoot-out.
    Marah Eakin, Vulture, 3 Jan. 2025
  • But what struck me was the talking black cat and the killer clown having a shoot-out with the KGB, bullets flying everywhere, and, impossibly, no one getting hit.
    Lizz Schumer, Peoplemag, 1 Apr. 2024
  • The trailer, released Wednesday, features an explosive car crash, shoot-outs, and a carry-on bag with an undisclosed weapon.
    Kalia Richardson, Rolling Stone, 16 Oct. 2024
  • But after a controversial shoot-out, Givens is sent home to Harlan County.
    Phillip MacIak, The New Republic, 28 July 2023
  • Sometimes those folks acquire a gun with the intention of harming others, looking to share their pain or hoping they themselves will be killed in a shoot-out.
    Anthony Montalto, New York Daily News, 2 Aug. 2024
  • There were shoot-outs and arrests, followed quickly by reports of heavy-handed treatment of suspects and, in some cases, of torture.
    Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 17 June 2024
  • That a cooking gas cannister won’t detonate in error, and spark a shoot-out that breaks the peace permanently.
    Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, 11 Mar. 2025
  • Alex then stayed onboard the train to seek medical attention for her frostbite in Bozeman, while a shoot-out ensued at the Livingston train station.
    Julia Moore, People.com, 6 Apr. 2025
  • Police used parts of their house for cover during the firefight, and drove an armored vehicle through the backyard, damaging parts of the property on the way to the shoot-out, Chhoeun said.
    Catherine Muccigrosso, Charlotte Observer, 28 May 2024
  • Damage to nearby homes A neighbor’s house also sustained damage during the Charlotte shoot-out.
    Catherine Muccigrosso, Charlotte Observer, 28 May 2024
  • Despite being wounded, the sergeant and the other officers chased the suspect and ended up in a shoot-out with him after the gunman got out of his wrecked car and opened fire on the officers, Castro said.
    Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, 28 Oct. 2024
  • Yet there are enough big, better-than-decent movie moments, from shoot-outs to impromptu elevator sing-alongs, that not even a small screen can dilute.
    David Fear, Rolling Stone, 21 July 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shoot-out.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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