as in shotgun
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as in to search
to look through (as a place) carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something
rifled the desk drawer in search of the insurance policy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rifle
Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 22 Jan. 2026
The footage appears to show that Huffman never touched these items, or the rifle, while checking out the decoy — only the binoculars that were still in his lap when Thomas pulled him over.
—Dac Collins, Outdoor Life, 22 Jan. 2026
Adam H. Beasley, Miami Herald, 28 Dec. 2025
Earlier in the game, Folk missed a 55-yarder short and to the right – his first miss of the season – but came back to rifle a line-drive shot through the uprights for the win.
—Chris Bumbaca, USA Today, 1 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rifle
Noun
The backpack contained various items, including several types of shotgun/rifle ammunition.
—Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 22 Jan. 2026
The footage appears to show that Huffman never touched these items, or the rifle, while checking out the decoy — only the binoculars that were still in his lap when Thomas pulled him over.
—Dac Collins, Outdoor Life, 22 Jan. 2026
Verb
Tampa Bay erased a one-goal deficit when Jake Guentzel got behind Florida’s special teams backline and rifled a short past Sergei Bobrovsky.
—Adam H. Beasley, Miami Herald, 28 Dec. 2025
Earlier in the game, Folk missed a 55-yarder short and to the right – his first miss of the season – but came back to rifle a line-drive shot through the uprights for the win.
—Chris Bumbaca, USA Today, 1 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for rifle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rifle
Noun
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Her image as an onstage bad girl was weaponized against her, with fans threatening her life at concerts, leaving at one point shotgun shells on the stage during Hole performances, referring to the manner of Cobain’s death.—
Ryan Lattanzio,
IndieWire,
30 Jan. 2026
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More than a month after the murders, Kohberger took a cross-country drive home to Pennsylvania with his dad riding shotgun in the suspect vehicle.—
Michael Ruiz,
FOXNews.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Multiple aircraft, cutters and small boats searched 1,047 square miles over 24 hours, finding debris near the location where the EPIRB was activated, along with one body and an unoccupied life raft that had been deployed.—
Alexandra Koch,
FOXNews.com,
4 Feb. 2026
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Where else to search for old retirement accounts Workers who can't currently benefit from the Labor Department database have other avenues to locate old retirement accounts.—
Sarah Agostino,
CNBC,
4 Feb. 2026
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
Verb
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Cinematographers and directors thinking about references can effectively comb through their catalogs, while location scouts and casting directors can cast a wide net to track down a specific person or place.—
Caitlin White,
Variety,
23 Jan. 2026
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This story was produced with the help of AI tools, which helped comb the archives for our best 2016 restaurant news.—
Melissa Oyler
January 22,
Charlotte Observer,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Smoke billowed from his flintlock and Rhoades didn’t see where the buck ran after the shot.—
Bob McNally,
Outdoor Life,
28 Jan. 2026
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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
Verb
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That’s in contrast to prior generations where players would immediately jump to enter the draft to rake millions if they were given a high draft grade.—
DJ Siddiqi,
Forbes.com,
21 Jan. 2026
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After adding mulch, rake it into an even layer.—
Mary Marlowe Leverette,
Southern Living,
21 Jan. 2026
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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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
Cite this Entry
“Rifle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rifle. Accessed 6 Feb. 2026.
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