as in smoothbore
Related Words
Relevance
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for breechloader
Noun
-
First-generation matchlock rifles, tanks, and aircraft had major limitations but improved over time.—
Paul Scharre,
Foreign Affairs,
15 Feb. 2018 -
Guns are a part of American life, and have been since the very beginning, from the matchlock muskets arming the earliest colonies to the Colt revolvers and Winchester rifles of the Old West to the Glock handgun of today.—
Kyle Mizokami,
Popular Mechanics,
7 Mar. 2018
Noun
-
Beretta traces its history to 1526, when Bartolomeo Beretta (d. 1565), a rifle barrel maker in the small northern Italian town of Gardone, sold 185 arquebus barrels—a handheld long gun and a forerunner to the modern rifle—to the Republic of Venice.—
Giacomo Tognini,
Forbes,
25 Mar. 2025
-
The worshipers insisted on congregating to pray at the crucifix in the local church and threatened to shoot with an arquebus – a long gun used during the Renaissance period – anyone who got in their way.—
Hannah Marcus,
The Conversation,
25 Sep. 2020
Noun
-
The flintlock pistol that Torres is given by the Yautja to fight his fellow prisoners is known by Predator fans as the Raphael Adolini 1715 pistol for an engraved plate that says just that.—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
13 June 2025
-
Although a gunshot from a flintlock pistol lasts only an eye blink, the sound is composed of numerous elements: the squeeze of the trigger, the strike of the firing mechanism against the flint, the ignition of the powder, the slug’s passage through the barrel, the report, the impact.—
Alexis Soloski,
New York Times,
3 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
On April 19, 1775, the crack of a musket marked the first official command for colonists to fire upon the red-coated army of Britain’s King George III.—
Lisa Meyers McClintick,
USA Today,
21 June 2025
-
Depictions of Warren tend to show him in military uniform, with a sword or a musket.—
Eliza McGraw,
Smithsonian Magazine,
17 June 2025
Noun
-
Pirro said a blanket ban on possessing shotguns and rifles violates the court's 2022 ruling that struck down a New York gun law and held that people have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.—
Landon Mion,
FOXNews.com,
21 Aug. 2025
-
The Menendez brothers have been incarcerated for more than three decades after they were convicted of the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in Beverly Hills.—
Liam Quinn,
People.com,
20 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Many shared frustrations with blunderbuss antitrust enforcement, foot-dragging on Medicare approvals for life-saving drugs, regulation by litigation, or red tape.—
Sam Liccardo,
Mercury News,
15 July 2025
-
And with the Trump administration taking a blunderbuss to anything that remotely resembles DEI, the mood across the entertainment industries is generally apprehensive.—
Zak Cheney-Rice,
Vulture,
2 June 2025
Noun
-
Two parents are facing neglect charges tied to separate cases this summer that resulted in two toddlers dead after getting hold of their parents' firearms.—
Noe Padilla,
IndyStar,
21 Aug. 2025
-
Stamford police said a subsequent search of his room and vehicle also turned up a pair of firearms.—
Jessica Schladebeck,
New York Daily News,
21 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Over the next 13 months, Berkowitz targeted a number of women and couples in secluded spots, using the same .44-caliber revolver in each attack.—
Chris Harris,
People.com,
4 Aug. 2025
-
The gun, a reproduction 1873 single-action army revolver, fired a live round inadvertently loaded by Hannah Gutierrez, the production's weapons handler.—
REUTERS,
USA Today,
31 July 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Breechloader.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/breechloader. Accessed 24 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share