shotgun 1 of 3

shotgun

2 of 3

noun

shotgun

3 of 3

verb

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
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
Not like, say, Pittsburgh Penguins winger Bryan Rust, a six-time 20-goal scorer who has rode shotgun next to Sidney Crosby over the years and figures to be available for trade. Jonas Siegel, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025 But now players are bouncing parkour-style horizontally down corridors and scaling multiple stories for a close-range shotgun blast at whim. Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 7 Oct. 2025
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
  • Some of them waged it, encamping with the armies, cooking, cleaning, and nursing, and, in a few exceptional cases, grabbing muskets themselves.
    Jane Kamensky, The Atlantic, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Lastly, players have ranged weapons such as the fast firing bow called the Hankyu, long ranged Yumi, bombs and Tangeshima, or musket.
    Gieson Cacho, Mercury News, 26 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • For the better part of the 2010s, Twitter struggled to balance a desire for free-speech maximalism with scattershot attempts to quell harassment on the platform.
    Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 1 Oct. 2025
  • What could have been a transformative meditation on mourning too often slips into surface-level spectacle, leaving the audience to piece together meaning from a scattershot collage of influences.
    David Hochman, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2025
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
Adjective
  • At the time, Anderson called it an accidental error.
    Lucas Robinson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 Oct. 2025
  • The Americans started brightly and confidently, getting control in midfield and probing with intent, but chances were rare, with the first real effort somewhat accidental as Zavier Gozo’s cross from the left clipped the top of the bar.
    The Athletic Staff, New York Times, 12 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • That would include gun-violence restraining orders and domestic violence protective orders, which are among several kinds of orders that compel a restrained person to surrender firearms.
    Robert Salonga, Mercury News, 13 Oct. 2025
  • Robinson was also charged with firearm counts and multiple obstruction-of-justice charges.
    Haadiza Ogwude, Cincinnati Enquirer, 13 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • The pamphlet offered instructions for how to acoustically recognize an incoming threat and how to determine whether the source is machine-gun fire, artillery fire, rocket launchers, or an air raid.
    Joanna Warsza, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2025
  • In a startling image, a pregnant Perfidia fires off rounds with a machine-gun butt pressed against her swollen belly.
    Justin Chang, New Yorker, 26 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Only random film students might ask her about it.
    Victoria Edel, PEOPLE, 18 Oct. 2025
  • So random though, and never had both my phone and internet just flatline like that.
    James Bickerton, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The driver’s side passenger then fires shots from a pistol at Bass-Moody, fatally striking her in the neck, according to police.
    Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 15 Oct. 2025
  • The devices can enable pistols to fire at rates of up to 1,200 rounds per minute, according to gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.
    Jeanine Santucci, USA Today, 15 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Shotgun.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shotgun. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025.

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