as in chance
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
as in musket
Related Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of shotgun
Jonas Shaffer, baltimoresun.com, 3 June 2021
Lunch and registration begin at 11 a.m., with a 12:30 p.m. shotgun start.
—Post-Tribune, 7 July 2017
Joe Battenfeld, Boston Herald, 21 Mar. 2026
Afterward the man with the shotgun points it inside the truck’s cabin and the passenger grabs its barrel, the video shows.
—Dennis Romero, NBC news, 21 Mar. 2026
Natalie Eilbert, jsonline.com, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shotgun
Adjective
In 2019, in non-shotgun formations, Jackson had 19 drop-backs and combined with Ravens running backs for 27 carries, according to Sports Info Solutions.
—Jonas Shaffer, baltimoresun.com, 3 June 2021
Lunch and registration begin at 11 a.m., with a 12:30 p.m. shotgun start.
—Post-Tribune, 7 July 2017
Noun
Walz blew the photo op by appearing to struggle to load his Beretta shotgun.
—Joe Battenfeld, Boston Herald, 21 Mar. 2026
Afterward the man with the shotgun points it inside the truck’s cabin and the passenger grabs its barrel, the video shows.
—Dennis Romero, NBC news, 21 Mar. 2026
Verb
Westman had decorated the assault rifle and shotgun with hate speech in ways that aligned with the dark underbelly of alt-right meme culture that regularly disparages people of color, Jewish people, the LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities.
—Natalie Eilbert, jsonline.com, 29 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shotgun
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shotgun
Noun
-
He was killed during the French siege of Maastricht in the Franco-Dutch War on June 25, 1673, after being struck in the throat by a musket ball.—
Reuters,
NBC news,
26 Mar. 2026
-
D’Artagnan was killed by a musket ball to the throat in the siege of Maastricht in 1673, and excavators believe that a skeleton found in the city was his.—
Tom Chivers,
semafor.com,
26 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
Jacir wants to show a cross section of people’s responses to these events, but the result often feels like scattershot scenes from a longer miniseries, flitting from one character to another with little narrative thrust or cohesion.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
20 Mar. 2026
-
There are some broadly entertaining yet scattershot series of betrayals, shootouts, car chases (and subsequent crashes), though little that actually raises the pulse or grabs your emotions.—
Chase Hutchinson,
IndieWire,
19 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Bush was charged with murder, home invasion and criminal possession of a firearm.—
Naveen Dhaliwal,
CBS News,
29 Mar. 2026
-
Bush is charged with murder, home invasion and criminal possession of a firearm, and is being held in lieu of a $2 million court set bond.—
Sean Krofssik,
Hartford Courant,
29 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
The latest data leak is potentially more damaging to Anthropic than the earlier accidental exposure of the company’s draft blog post about its forthcoming model.—
Beatrice Nolan,
Fortune,
31 Mar. 2026
-
Each accidental catch potentially removes an animal that was alive before the Industrial Revolution.—
Samantha Agate,
Charlotte Observer,
31 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
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
-
Trump would also stop treating the Europeans as enemies with his blunderbuss tariffs.—
Trudy Rubin,
Mercury News,
15 Aug. 2025
Verb
-
Police said three of the guns had been reported stolen, and one handgun was equipped with a machine-gun conversion device.—
Sergio Candido,
CBS News,
7 Jan. 2026
-
Their recording was a kinetic thrashathon with machine-gun-fast guitar notes and solos and Hetfield’s convincing screams for mercy.—
Althea Legaspi,
Rolling Stone,
30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
May 21 – June 20 A random chat could inspire you to make smarter moves.—
Tarot.com,
Hartford Courant,
2 Apr. 2026
-
They are proven hitters, and baseball can be random, especially in this early part of the season when ballparks are still frozen and very few players are in midseason form.—
Abbey Mastracco,
New York Daily News,
2 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
On March 11, a San Francisco police violence reduction team raided his Albany apartment and found a Glock pistol with a fully automatic sear switch, according to police.—
Nate Gartrell,
Mercury News,
30 Mar. 2026
-
Zangara, who had purchased the pistol for $8 at a local pawnshop, mingled among a record crowd of 25,000 people who had come to catch a glimpse of the famed FDR.—
Miami Herald Archives,
Miami Herald,
27 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shotgun.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shotgun. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
