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
Dan Walters, Mercury News, 15 May 2025
Thankfully, Cronenberg is less interested in taking potshots at his vapid characters (played by the game likes of Julianne Moore, John Cusack, and Evan Bird channeling Shia LaBeouf) than in unearthing the sadness and madness that gnaws at their superficial dreams.
—A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 28 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
Taking a potshot is a 90-day misdemeanor, plus fines.
—Neal Rubin, Freep.com, 6 June 2024
See All Example Sentences for potshot
Noun
That and some other issues were indirect potshots at Newsom, who has occasionally bucked the unions.
—Dan Walters, Mercury News, 15 May 2025
Thankfully, Cronenberg is less interested in taking potshots at his vapid characters (played by the game likes of Julianne Moore, John Cusack, and Evan Bird channeling Shia LaBeouf) than in unearthing the sadness and madness that gnaws at their superficial dreams.
—A.a. Dowd, Vulture, 28 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
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 October alone, shoppers were attacked in a supermarket, a Spanish tourist was scratched by a cub at a heritage site, and a trail runner was forced to wrestle a bear in the woods before sprinting to safety.—
Jessie Yeung,
CNN Money,
7 Nov. 2025
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Iran fired hundreds of ballistic missiles into Israel in response and attacked the Middle East's largest American military base in Qatar.—
MSNBC Newsweek,
MSNBC Newsweek,
6 Nov. 2025
Noun
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California Republicans quickly filed a federal lawsuit in an effort to block a new gerrymandered House map that was proposed by the state’s Democratic leaders and approved by voters this week—marking the latest salvo in the nationwide redistricting battle ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.—
Solcyré Burga,
Time,
6 Nov. 2025
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Everyone is invited to this bacchanal of botox and fire dancers, but everyone seems to understand that this is actually the opening salvo of the war that’s been brewing between Mary and Chrishell’s respective fiefdoms.—
Anne Victoria Clark,
Vulture,
31 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Once the truck begins driving straight, the beige SUV speeds up and slams into the truck’s back-left side.—
Eric Levenson,
CNN Money,
25 Oct. 2025
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Back in 1961, residents of Capitola woke up to find that hordes of black seabirds were slamming into cars, windows and people's homes and dying.—
Stephanie Sengwe,
PEOPLE,
25 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The Daily Dividend With the ongoing government shutdown, a Federal Reserve meeting and a barrage of earnings reports, you were bound to miss some headlines this week.—
Alex Harring,
CNBC,
31 Oct. 2025
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The overnight barrage was the second-largest of the war to date.—
David Brennan,
ABC News,
30 Oct. 2025
Verb
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This came after Nick Saban jokingly scolded himself for not fielding Sayin during their weeks-long overlap in 2023’s postseason at Alabama.—
Alex Kirshner,
New York Times,
2 Nov. 2025
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This way of peering at screen culture from an inexact distance, which also comes up in a scolding scene where Ethan scrolls aimlessly through something like TikTok, rankles in a play that is otherwise so precise about physical time and space.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
31 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Yet the best goal of the night went to Rose Lavelle, whose volley from outside the box curled perfectly into the side netting to give the USWNT a 3-0 lead at the half.—
Daniel Sperry,
Kansas City Star,
30 Oct. 2025
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That marked a significant cooling of tensions, after a recent volley of tariff threats and fresh export curbs threatened to derail the bilateral relationship.—
Bloomberg,
Fortune,
27 Oct. 2025
Verb
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No woman, under any circumstance, deserves to be insulted or humiliated.—
Megan Cartwright,
MSNBC Newsweek,
5 Nov. 2025
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Lee will later pop in to see Dan, the storefront lawyer next door, just to insult him by requesting a recommendation for a good lawyer.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
29 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Earle-Sears, who has been lagging in polling, immediately began a one-hour-long fusillade on Spanberger once the debate started.—
Mabinty Quarshie,
The Washington Examiner,
11 Oct. 2025
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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
Cite this Entry
“Potshot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/potshot. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
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