as in arquebus
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Recent Examples of matchlock
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
Also known Hwaseong-Chong (a matchlock gun), the SA-16 is likely meant to offset the advantage South Korean and American forces have in tactical airpower.
—Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 4 Apr. 2017
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
Also known Hwaseong-Chong (a matchlock gun), the SA-16 is likely meant to offset the advantage South Korean and American forces have in tactical airpower.
—Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 4 Apr. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for matchlock
Noun
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Depictions of Warren tend to show him in military uniform, with a sword or a musket.—
Eliza McGraw,
Smithsonian Magazine,
17 June 2025
Noun
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And this slasher Santa Claus doesn't mess around, using an axe and a shotgun with deadly intention and also down for impaling people on deer antlers.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
26 July 2025
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Before his arrest, Vang’s son went to the home and secured a shotgun and two rifles.—
Nick Ferraro,
Twin Cities,
22 July 2025
Noun
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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
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What the Supreme Court should not do is hand down a blunderbuss of a legal rule — one that could very well throw every public school in the country into turmoil — based on a half-baked legal theory constructed by lawyers who don’t even know if their clients’ rights were violated yet.—
Ian Millhiser,
Vox,
15 Apr. 2025
Noun
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That’s about when Derrick Perry, the other Marine, pulled out his firearm as others screamed at Gille to drop the knife.—
Theresa Braine,
New York Daily News,
27 July 2025
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Investigators also learned Becton had pointed firearms at and threatened a previous girlfriend, according to the affidavit.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
25 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Matchlock.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/matchlock. Accessed 1 Aug. 2025.
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