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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in shotgun
Related Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rifle
Khaleda Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 July 2025
Jones arrived with his own weapon − a rifle − and fired shots in the air and towards a witnesses' apartment, according to the criminal complaint.
—Chris Ramirez, jsonline.com, 3 July 2025
Josh Gross, Oc Register, 2 Apr. 2025
Bassett could have done the same a minute later, but rifled a tough-angled shot at RSL goalkeeper Rafael Cabral.
—Braidon Nourse, Denver Post, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for rifle
Verb
The law had imposed a $200 tax on machine guns and shotguns and rifles with barrels shorter than 18 inches, and also required the federal registration of these types of firearms.
—Khaleda Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 July 2025
Jones arrived with his own weapon − a rifle − and fired shots in the air and towards a witnesses' apartment, according to the criminal complaint.
—Chris Ramirez, jsonline.com, 3 July 2025
Noun
Heavy pressure allowed the Ducks to keep the puck in the offensive zone at the end of the period, where Radko Gudas rifled a pair of slapshots in quick succession.
—Josh Gross, Oc Register, 2 Apr. 2025
Bassett could have done the same a minute later, but rifled a tough-angled shot at RSL goalkeeper Rafael Cabral.
—Braidon Nourse, Denver Post, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for rifle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rifle
Verb
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Authorities searched the Chatfield Reservoir for a missing paddleboarder Monday evening.—
Elizabeth Hernandez,
Denver Post,
8 July 2025
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The outlet reported on Monday that while rescue teams searched for survivors in floodwaters in Central Texas, Cruz remained in Greece and continued sightseeing.—
Andrew Stanton
Gabe Whisnant,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 July 2025
Noun
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When the occupants of the boat refused to surrender, the crew fired warning shots with a shotgun and then fired pepper-ball rounds onto the skiff, the Coast Guard reported.—
City News Service,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
14 July 2025
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Mary Winkler, wife to the town’s Fourth Street Church of Christ minister Matthew Winkler, had shot her husband in the back with a shotgun in their bedroom, killing him.—
Angele Latham,
The Tennessean,
9 July 2025
Verb
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Drones, rescue teams and volunteers are combing through debris, hoping to find answers for the families of the missing.—
Emily Mae Czachor,
CBS News,
11 July 2025
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The search has encompassed several local, state and federal agencies – including the U.S. Marshals service and Border Patrol’s Tactical Unit – combing through the area’s vast wilderness by land and air.—
Julia Bonavita,
FOXNews.com,
10 July 2025
Noun
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On April 19, 1775, the crack of a musket marked the first official command for colonists to fire upon the red-coated army of Britain’s King George III.—
Lisa Meyers McClintick,
USA Today,
21 June 2025
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Depictions of Warren tend to show him in military uniform, with a sword or a musket.—
Eliza McGraw,
Smithsonian Magazine,
17 June 2025
Verb
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Severe storms raked across Nashville and Middle Tennessee on Saturday, bringing multiple tornado warnings, at least one possible tornado, plus torrential rains and high winds all around the region.—
Laura L. Davis,
The Tennessean,
2 July 2025
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Instead, make raking fun again with these nifty hand rakes that resemble giant salad tongs.—
Mariana Best,
Better Homes & Gardens,
8 June 2025
Noun
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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
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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
Noun
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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
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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
Noun
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First-generation matchlock rifles, tanks, and aircraft had major limitations but improved over time.—
Paul Scharre,
Foreign Affairs,
15 Feb. 2018
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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 19 Jul. 2025.
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