as in musket
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Recent Examples of matchlock
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
First-generation matchlock rifles, tanks, and aircraft had major limitations but improved over time.
—Paul Scharre, Foreign Affairs, 15 Feb. 2018
Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 7 Mar. 2018
First-generation matchlock rifles, tanks, and aircraft had major limitations but improved over time.
—Paul Scharre, Foreign Affairs, 15 Feb. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for matchlock
Noun
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His 134 men were armed with musket, cartridge pouch, and sword in case of a hostile encounter, and the Africaansche Galey lay close by with a couple of small cannon brought forward on the bow.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
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The printing press, clocks, muskets — all these inventions changed humankind forever.—
Hannah Edgar,
Chicago Tribune,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The flintlock coughed a lot of smoke, but Zutterman heard the 270-grain roundball smack the buck.—
Bob McNally,
Outdoor Life,
2 Oct. 2025
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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
Noun
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This tank is potentially equipped with a 130mm smoothbore gun.—
Kapil Kajal,
Interesting Engineering,
3 Sep. 2025
Noun
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But hand the ball off from that same shotgun formation?—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
Mercury News,
6 Jan. 2026
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There was also a bad fumble on a snap out of shotgun.—
David Aldridge,
New York Times,
5 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Researchers recently found medieval cannonballs from culverins, an early form of cannon, that were most likely used by Vlad the Impaler, during his bloody battle in 1461 with the Ottoman Turks.—
Fox News,
Fox News,
5 Aug. 2019
Noun
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With feverish speed and characteristic blunderbuss, President Donald Trump has given the federal government – and himself – unprecedented control over private economic decisions.—
Matthew Mitchell,
Twin Cities,
28 Sep. 2025
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Trump would also stop treating the Europeans as enemies with his blunderbuss tariffs.—
Trudy Rubin,
Mercury News,
15 Aug. 2025
Noun
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He will be booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail and faces two counts of homicide, one count of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, officials said.—
Richard Ramos,
CBS News,
13 Jan. 2026
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The operation led by the District of Massachusetts targeting machine gun conversion device vendors has led to the seizure of about 360 internet domains and more than 3,000 devices, 282 firearms, 124 silencers, more than 12,000 rounds ammunition and about 125 investigative referrals.—
Rick Sobey,
Boston Herald,
13 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Presumably that meant plastic pistols were nonstarters.—
Dan Piepenbring,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
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One video appears to show a Border Patrol officer removing a pistol from Pretti’s waistband after he had been pinned to the ground by other agents.—
Michael Collins,
USA Today,
27 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Matchlock.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/matchlock. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
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