as in to attack
to criticize harshly and usually publicly
The comic ended the show with a rant in which he potshot an assortment of celebrities.
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Recent Examples of potshot
Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 7 Apr. 2025
Soon, the pair are playing long-distance chess, air drumming, and taking competitive potshots at one another’s dishware.
—Graham Hillard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 28 Feb. 2025
Instead Trump has taken verbal potshots at California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and President Biden, suggesting their actions are to blame for the failure to contain the fires.
—Niall Stanage, The Hill, 8 Jan. 2025
New Hampshire’s lower chamber has four hundred people, nearly double the second-largest state legislature in the country, so there were plenty of representatives willing to take potshots at the hawk and belittle the children who wanted to honor it.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 28 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for potshot
Verb
In a separate tweet, Ackman also took potshots at U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
—Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 7 Apr. 2025
Soon, the pair are playing long-distance chess, air drumming, and taking competitive potshots at one another’s dishware.
—Graham Hillard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 28 Feb. 2025
Instead Trump has taken verbal potshots at California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and President Biden, suggesting their actions are to blame for the failure to contain the fires.
—Niall Stanage, The Hill, 8 Jan. 2025
New Hampshire’s lower chamber has four hundred people, nearly double the second-largest state legislature in the country, so there were plenty of representatives willing to take potshots at the hawk and belittle the children who wanted to honor it.
—Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 28 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for potshot
Recent Examples of Synonyms for potshot
Verb
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The Vera Institute's advocacy arm Vera Action, for example, assessed that the the GOP spent more than $1 billion attacking Democrats on crime and immigration in 2024, while Democrats spent roughly $319 million on advertisements that played up their public safety records.—
Francesca Chambers,
USA Today,
15 Aug. 2025
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Cardi also dropped a trailer for the album, showing her inside a house as crows swarm and attack her mansion.—
Tomás Mier,
Rolling Stone,
15 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The new review is just the latest salvo aimed at the Smithsonian by the Trump administration.—
Michael T. Nietzel,
Forbes.com,
14 Aug. 2025
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Its latest salvo in the battle of automotive bravado is the Shelby Super Snake-R, which debuted at Motorlux with a starting price of $224,995.—
Viju Mathew,
Robb Report,
14 Aug. 2025
Verb
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According to the outlets, police alleged in the documents that the couple repeatedly slammed the girl's fingers in a door frame, crushing her hand and causing her fingernails to separate from her hand.—
Sean Neumann,
People.com,
7 Aug. 2025
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But a former Google executive has slammed the notion that the technology won’t be a job-killer and will actually create new work for humans.—
Emma Burleigh,
Fortune,
6 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Framber Valdez faced the entire starting nine in a six-run barrage.—
Gabrielle Starr,
Boston Herald,
4 Aug. 2025
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Brace reacted with a barrage of emails and messages to Elise and Jay Flatland saying the organization was transphobic.—
Eleanor Nash,
Kansas City Star,
3 Aug. 2025
Verb
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After a couple of insulting caricatures, increasingly bizarre depictions of the Vice President started to spread through the internet, the trend becoming a competition to see who could create the most hideous, weird or original Vance.—
Dani Di Placido,
Forbes.com,
7 Aug. 2025
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More to the point, these kinds of claims insult the officers who are actually doing the work.—
Diane Goldstein,
Oc Register,
5 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Cameron Antwi unleashed an airborne karate-kick volley and then Michael Reindorf planted an unsaveable beauty into the top part of the top corner just a few first-half minutes later.—
Tim Spiers,
New York Times,
30 July 2025
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Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Boris Becker, as well as old-school titans Roy Emerson, Pancho Segura, Alex Olmedo, Bobby Riggs, Pancho Gonzalez and Rod Laver, have smashed volleys and serves on these local courts.—
Richard Dunn,
Oc Register,
17 July 2025
Verb
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Some have also scolded Colossal for tinkering with genetics, but the tech firm insists its work will aid in the conservation and protection of endangered species.—
Mike Snider,
USA Today,
12 Aug. 2025
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With the camel’s back broken, Dorothy Scott, summoning all her righteous indignation (and channeled with maybe one-third of Audra McDonald’s extraordinary talent, which is still enough to power the city of Manhattan), lets the snobby scold have it.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
11 Aug. 2025
Noun
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The three-man comedy factory that ruled the 1980s with their fusillades of slapstick, sight gags, loopy non sequiturs and winking innuendo was David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker — Hollywood’s ZAZ before David Zaslav.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
30 July 2025
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In a rambling screed of nearly eight minutes, the caller unloaded a fusillade of profanities.—
John Tuohy,
IndyStar,
2 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Potshot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/potshot. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.
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