as in shotgun
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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
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 rifle
Martha McHardy Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 May 2025
Court records show that Cruz and his associates, one of whom reportedly had an assault-style rifle, exited the vehicles.
—Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 15 May 2025
Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 13 May 2025
Cutting inside, Watkins rifled this effort against Brighton into the top corner.
—Mark Carey, New York Times, 12 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for rifle
Noun
Two months later, Secret Service agents foiled another would-be assassin who hid in the bushes with a rifle at the president's golf course in Palm Beach, Florida.
—Martha McHardy Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 May 2025
Court records show that Cruz and his associates, one of whom reportedly had an assault-style rifle, exited the vehicles.
—Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 15 May 2025
Verb
While agents were rifling around the rapper’s 11,376 square foot home at 2 Star Island Drive, a Miami Herald photograph captured the chaotic scene outside.
—Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald, 13 May 2025
Cutting inside, Watkins rifled this effort against Brighton into the top corner.
—Mark Carey, New York Times, 12 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for rifle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rifle
Noun
-
Short-barrel firearms include rifles with barrels shorter than 16 inches and shotguns with barrels less than 18 inches, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).—
Andrew Stanton,
MSNBC Newsweek,
29 May 2025
-
Shultz also allegedly tried to grab a rifle or the shotgun out of its holder, and at that moment, the deputies shot him multiple times and killed him.—
Greg Wehner,
FOXNews.com,
28 May 2025
Verb
-
It had been visited by an investigator, searching for locations where someone may have spotted Chandler around the time of the murders.—
Ruth Chenetz,
CBS News,
31 May 2025
-
But despite searching for days with members of the community, Gardner and Fishlock had to return home to mainland Australia, leaving the island without her.—
Kat Lonsdorf,
NPR,
30 May 2025
Noun
-
Later, Flinders interacted with the First Nations people again, this time giving them his shot belt that included musket balls, according to the release.—
Irene Wright,
Miami Herald,
14 May 2025
-
Seriously, watch this, there's cannons blasting, musket fire and smoke everywhere!—
Jim Reineking,
USA TODAY,
31 Jan. 2025
Verb
-
Investigators continue to comb through previous jail phone recordings and believe that other incarcerated inmates or employees at the jail could face additional charges for their role assisting in theMay 16 escape and initial cover-up in the hours following the jailbreak, according to the source.—
Ryan Young,
CNN Money,
24 May 2025
-
Authorities are still combing through digital evidence to determine the relationship between the shooter and victim, with Smith telling reporters the deceased did have a criminal history.—
Julia Bonavita,
FOXNews.com,
22 May 2025
Noun
-
Beretta traces its history to 1526, when Bartolomeo Beretta (d. 1565), a rifle barrel maker in the small northern Italian town of Gardone, sold 185 arquebus barrels—a handheld long gun and a forerunner to the modern rifle—to the Republic of Venice.—
Giacomo Tognini,
Forbes,
25 Mar. 2025
-
The worshipers insisted on congregating to pray at the crucifix in the local church and threatened to shoot with an arquebus – a long gun used during the Renaissance period – anyone who got in their way.—
Hannah Marcus,
The Conversation,
25 Sep. 2020
Verb
-
Those waterfowl sure can rake … putting 13 runs on upstart Liberty to get back to the World Series stage.—
Steven Louis Goldstein,
New York Times,
29 May 2025
-
Last year the Village Board voted to require Oak Park homeowners residents to bag their leaves instead of just raking their leaves into the street as they had been accustomed to doing.—
Bob Skolnik,
Chicago Tribune,
15 May 2025
Noun
-
Although a gunshot from a flintlock pistol lasts only an eye blink, the sound is composed of numerous elements: the squeeze of the trigger, the strike of the firing mechanism against the flint, the ignition of the powder, the slug’s passage through the barrel, the report, the impact.—
Alexis Soloski,
New York Times,
3 Jan. 2025
-
My first rifle had been a flintlock that had been given to me by an old friend, Ed Wesson, the gunsmith.—
Outdoor Life,
Outdoor Life,
23 Nov. 2023
Noun
-
First-generation matchlock rifles, tanks, and aircraft had major limitations but improved over time.—
Paul Scharre,
Foreign Affairs,
15 Feb. 2018
-
Guns are a part of American life, and have been since the very beginning, from the matchlock muskets arming the earliest colonies to the Colt revolvers and Winchester rifles of the Old West to the Glock handgun of today.—
Kyle Mizokami,
Popular Mechanics,
7 Mar. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Rifle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rifle. Accessed 4 Jun. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share