machine-gunning

verb

present participle of machine-gun
as in killing

Related Words

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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
  • Authorities are investigating what led a 16-year-old shooter to force entry into his former elementary school in Bend, Oregon, and fire into a special needs classroom on Thursday, killing three children and a young teacher.
    — Dalia Faheid, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2026
  • Over the next seven years, Saudi Arabia carried out waves of airstrikes against the Houthis, often killing civilians.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of killing
Verb
  • One crab can eat more than 40 juvenile soft-shell clams in a day, while also destroying seagrass habitats.
    — Victoria Malloy, Time, 21 Oct. 2026
  • And then a seven-hour-long GRB came along—acting like a Death Star whose planet-destroying beam refused to switch off—that defied all explanation.
    — Robin George Andrews, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of destroying
Verb
  • More important than the figures themselves is the engine’s broad, effortless power delivery, which makes the Carrera T feel eager whether carving through a mountain road or dispatching a stretch of freeway.
    — Bradley Iger, Robb Report, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Tory Burch excels at activating her frow-goers, dispatching content creators like Tefi Pessoa and Kennedy Eurich as correspondents, who saturate social media with guest interviews and interactions.
    — Joan Kennedy, Vogue, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of dispatching
Verb
  • Widdecombe’s slaying renewed concerns over security for politicians, which has been tightened in the past decade after two lawmakers were murdered.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 9 Oct. 2026
  • Elsewhere, Zach Cregger’s fresh take on the Resident Evil franchise continues slaying in its third week in theaters.
    — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 5 Oct. 2026
Definition of slaying
Verb
  • Jason, who supposedly witnessed his mother’s killing, took up the blade, slaughtering his way through several bloody sequels.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Which is not to say there aren’t currently Black women slaughtering the pop scene right now.
    — Kyle Denis, Billboard, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of slaughtering
Verb
  • In June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyydecided to name a military unit after a Ukrainian paramilitary organization accused of massacring Poles during World War II, causing outrage in Poland.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 25 Aug. 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
  • Dark stars are hypothetical primordial stars that, rather than producing energy through nuclear fusion, are instead powered by self-annihilating dark matter within their cores.
    — Robert Lea, Space.com, 21 Aug. 2026
  • The accusation works its way through society, annihilating reputations, deservedly or not.
    — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of annihilating
Verb
  • The automaker is positioning this new lineup as its bulwark against the flood of Chinese imports that is currently decimating other European brands.
    — Andrew J. Hawkins, The Verge, 7 Oct. 2026
  • Russia has been targeting presses and publishing houses across Ukraine for the past month, in a campaign that’s increasingly concerned with decimating Ukrainian culture.
    — Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 1 Oct. 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
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Cite this Entry

“Machine-gunning.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/machine-gunning. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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