as in to attack
to criticize harshly and usually publicly
The comic ended the show with a rant in which he potshot an assortment of celebrities.
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Recent Examples of potshot
Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 7 Apr. 2025
Soon, the pair are playing long-distance chess, air drumming, and taking competitive potshots at one another’s dishware.
—Graham Hillard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 28 Feb. 2025
Instead Trump has taken verbal potshots at California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and President Biden, suggesting their actions are to blame for the failure to contain the fires.
—Niall Stanage, The Hill, 8 Jan. 2025
Taking a potshot is a 90-day misdemeanor, plus fines.
—Neal Rubin, Freep.com, 6 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for potshot
Verb
In a separate tweet, Ackman also took potshots at U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
—Lee Ying Shan, CNBC, 7 Apr. 2025
Soon, the pair are playing long-distance chess, air drumming, and taking competitive potshots at one another’s dishware.
—Graham Hillard, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 28 Feb. 2025
Instead Trump has taken verbal potshots at California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and President Biden, suggesting their actions are to blame for the failure to contain the fires.
—Niall Stanage, The Hill, 8 Jan. 2025
Taking a potshot is a 90-day misdemeanor, plus fines.
—Neal Rubin, Freep.com, 6 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for potshot
Recent Examples of Synonyms for potshot
Verb
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In the hands of editor Richard Mettler, some of those fragments serve montages that interlace how the tribes prepare to defend themselves with the way Jalabzeen readies himself to attack.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Variety,
2 Oct. 2025
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Having attacked the edge of the six-yard box, Rodon has to back-pedal and meet the ball, again, wide of the goal.—
Beren Cross,
New York Times,
2 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Program officials set a two-year path to mass production following test completion, with full Taiwan manufacture and target unit costs in the low hundreds of thousands USD, deliberately priced for salvo fire.—
Kapil Kajal,
Interesting Engineering,
1 Oct. 2025
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The letter is the latest legal salvo by Hollywood as studios begin to step up against AI.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
30 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Kirk followed Guerrero the next inning, slamming the first of his two homers over the outfield wall.—
Mitch Bannon,
New York Times,
5 Oct. 2025
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As comedians from Bill Burr to Kevin Hart were slammed for performing at Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival, Dave Chappelle said the Middle Eastern nation is actually more suitable for stand-up than the United States.—
Anthony Robledo,
USA Today,
4 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The second-quarter Dragons barrage featured contributions from the offense, defense and special teams.—
Mike Waters,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
4 Oct. 2025
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Like countless generations before them, today’s young adults are subject to what feels like a constant barrage of headlines bemoaning their generational shortcomings.—
Abby Monteil,
Them.,
3 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The series of tests YouTuber Cody Detwiler put Ben the humanoid through a series of tasks after insulting him and programming him to consider humans as enemies.—
Atharva Gosavi,
Interesting Engineering,
2 Oct. 2025
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Patrick doesn’t waste time insulting Ellen about her relationship with Edward, never mind that, as Ellen points out, Edward’s the reason Patrick’s a free man.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
26 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The Spain international produced one particularly outstanding save to deny a volley from Daniel Podence.—
James McNicholas,
New York Times,
2 Oct. 2025
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Though the two actors have a kind of slacker ease in the nonsensical volleys, this lower temperature approach too often misses the work’s humor, horror and emotional resonance.—
Frank Rizzo,
Variety,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Miss Sammie flashed the scolding look Jean had known since childhood, though playfully now.—
David Wright Faladé,
New Yorker,
28 Sep. 2025
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Chun also scolded attorneys for Amazon in July for withholding thousands of documents from the FTC and abusing a legal privilege to shield them from scrutiny.—
Annie Palmer,
CNBC,
23 Sep. 2025
Noun
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In retaliation, the Houthis launched a fusillade of ballistic missiles at the Truman, which turned tail and steamed away, causing another Super Hornet to slide off the deck into the ocean.—
Seth Harp,
Harpers Magazine,
19 Sep. 2025
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As Ukraine marked another year of independence, Vladimir Putin responded with one of the worst fusillades of missiles since his unprovoked full-scale war of aggression began over three years ago.—
Oleksandra Matviichuk,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Potshot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/potshot. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.
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