tommy gun 1 of 2

tommy-gun

2 of 2

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 tommy gun
Noun
After speeches by longtime colleagues (the F.B.I. director, Christopher Wray, presented him with a replica tommy gun), Garland spoke. Fabio Bertoni, The New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2025 Gauging from the trailer, this grisly period piece appears to be set in the South with Jordan starring in a dual role as a pair of twins, at least one of whom gets to spray bullets with a retro tommy gun. Meredith Blake, Los Angeles Times, 1 Jan. 2025 That applies to all the dialogue, which doesn’t change at all from character to character, each of them firing off pop culture references like a tommy gun. Joshua Alston, Variety, 11 Jan. 2023 On the back of the bottle was a ghost engraving: the original G-man in a fedora, toting a tommy gun. Paul Solotaroff, Rolling Stone, 30 Jan. 2022 The image of a mask-wearing authoritarian pointing a tommy gun at first looks like irresistible kitsch but now seems disturbingly accurate for the COVID apocalypse. Armond White, National Review, 20 Aug. 2021 In the 1930s, the fee doubled the cost of a new tommy gun. Adam Weinstein, The New Republic, 20 Apr. 2020 The decade was also rife with poisonous bathtub gin, murderous Mafia dons, and the merciless rat-a-tat of tommy guns, as well as myriad political and cultural struggles simmering beneath the surface. Kim Kelly, Teen Vogue, 17 Jan. 2020
Verb
His tommy-gun dialogue, much of it laced with withering invective and punctuated with profanity, started a shift in the language of both theater and movies in this country. David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 30 Apr. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tommy gun
Noun
  • Barrow fired a machine gun at the prison to distract from the running fugitives.
    Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Oct. 2025
  • X-ray studies show the spray comes in rapid pulses, like a tiny machine gun, generated by a passive valve-and-membrane system that cycles pressure safely without cooking the beetle itself.
    Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 17 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
Noun
  • Police learned Pyles owns a handgun and a submachine gun, according to charging documents.
    Jose R. Gonzalez, AZCentral.com, 20 Aug. 2025
  • Rock’s talent includes shooting down German fighter planes with a single submachine gun and tossing grenades with great accuracy.
    Justin Kroll, Deadline, 17 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • One casing is a 9mm caliber, likely a pistol, or a machine pistol or a submachine gun, Weir said.
    Mohammad Al Sawalhi, CNN, 26 June 2024
  • Prosecutors said police found two weapons in the getaway car when the men were detained on a highway about 50 kilometers (30 miles) outside Amsterdam, a Heckler and Koch machine pistol and, in a Louis Vuitton bag, a blank-firing pistol that had been modified to take 9-millimeter rounds.
    MIKE CORDER, ajc, 18 Oct. 2021
Noun
  • Police later found Cagle’s Chevy flatbed pickup outside the terminal and located an AR-15 assault rifle in the back seat with 27 rounds of ammunition.
    Marc Ramirez, USA Today, 21 Oct. 2025
  • Officers later found an assault rifle and ammunition in his truck parked just outside the terminal.
    Gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Langworthy has been charged with murder, possessing a firearm and ammunition as a felon and having an assault weapon later discovered during a search of his home, according to court records.
    Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 22 Oct. 2025
  • What happened next, according to first responders, Jasper's aunt Amber Rosen, churchgoers, hospital officials and family members of those impacted, is a blur of violence and terror with the pop-pop-pop of an assault weapon and thick black smoke from fire hanging in the air.
    Georgea Kovanis, Freep.com, 5 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Tommy gun.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tommy%20gun. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.

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