machine-gunning

verb

present participle of machine-gun
as in killing

Related Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for machine-gunning
  1. killing
  2. destroying
  3. dispatching
  4. slaying
  5. slaughtering
  6. massacring
  7. annihilating
  8. decimating
Verb
  • Prosecutors say after killing her children, Clancy cut her wrists and neck and jumped from a second-story window, leaving her partially paralyzed.
    — Andi Babineau, CNN Money, 8 Aug. 2026
  • Militants affiliated with the Islamic State group attacked a village in Congo near the border with Uganda early Saturday, killing at least 13 people and burning and looting homes, a local civil society group said.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 8 Aug. 2026
Definition of killing
Verb
  • Gen gets to bust out her flapper dress only to witness the most horrific, awful, potentially career-destroying failure … the caviar, oysters, and bread are all crowded onto the bread plate.
    — Emma Soren, Vulture, 11 Aug. 2026
  • The three were accused of destroying property of value less than $1,000.
    — Sarah N. Lynch, CBS News, 11 Aug. 2026
Definition of destroying
Verb
  • With fires now happening everywhere all at once, nations will be constrained in their ability to come to each other’s aid by dispatching firefighters and equipment.
    — Bloomberg, Fortune, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Weiss dramatically overhauled the program in May and June, dispatching half the on-air staff and several senior producers.
    — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of dispatching
Verb
  • The Manson murders spawned at least one copycat slaying in February 1970, The New York Times reported.
    — Jessica Sager, PEOPLE, 9 Aug. 2026
  • Symbolism Historically, dragon-slaying stories portrayed the treasure hoard as the ultimate test of a hero’s character.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 July 2026
Definition of slaying
Verb
  • But when his ice cream-eating schoolmates begin slaughtering their parents overnight, seemingly fueled by the wafting sound of the truck jingle and old-timey black-and-white animations invading their phones, Jared seems like the lucky one.
    — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 7 Aug. 2026
  • Disease had significantly weakened Tenochtitlán’s ability to withstand Cortés’s siege, and the Europeans eventually wore the Aztec warriors down and broke through the city’s defenses, slaughtering the Aztecs and destroying the city.
    — Jordana Rosenfeld, Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 June 2026
Definition of slaughtering
Verb
  • Nawrocki this month stripped Zelenskyy of Poland’s highest state honor, because Zelenskyy named a military unit after a Ukrainian paramilitary organization accused of massacring Poles during the war.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 25 June 2026
  • President Karol Nawrocki decided to strip Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle over the Ukrainian leader’s decision to name a military unit after a Ukrainian paramilitary organization accused of massacring Poles during World War II.
    — Claudia Ciobanu, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2026
Definition of massacring
Verb
  • As an arachnid alien-annihilating action game, Helldivers seems like the perfect recipe for a popcorn flick.
    — Matt Cabral, Entertainment Weekly, 15 July 2026
  • Chess is about annihilating your opponent.
    — Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 24 June 2026
Definition of annihilating
Verb
  • Beyond birds Cats left free to roam face more issues than just decimating the local bird population.
    — Tanya Edwards, USA Today, 6 Aug. 2026
  • With no major competition from native predators, the invasive snakes exploded in population while decimating local wildlife.
    — Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 5 Aug. 2026
Definition of decimating
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.

Browse Nearby Words

machine-gunned
machine-gunning
machine guns
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Machine-gunning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/machine-gunning. Accessed 14 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of vacuous

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Words of the Week - Aug. 14

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of a green cube out of place in a lineup of red spheres
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Vol. 2 Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.
See All