rifle
Other forms: rifles; rifled; rifling
A rifle is a long, powerful gun that is fired from the shoulder. A soldier is most often armed with a rifle.
Some hunters use rifles, which fire single bullets rather than the small pellets, or shot, that shotguns fire. A rifle can do more damage and is therefore often used in the military. The name comes from the shape of the barrel, which is grooved — or rifled, from the Old French word rifler, "to scratch or groove." Another meaning of rifle comes from the same root but means "to search through things in a hurried way."
Definitions of rifle
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a shoulder firearm with a long barrel and a rifled bore“he lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired”
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types:
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carbine
light automatic rifle
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Garand, Garand rifle, M-1, M-1 rifle
a semiautomatic rifle
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precision rifle, sniper rifle
an extremely powerful rifle developed for the military; capable of destroying light armored vehicles and aircraft more than a mile away
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Winchester
a shoulder rifle
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Dragunov
a sniper rifle with a telescopic sight
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go through in search of something; search through someone's belongings in an unauthorized way
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steal goods; take as spoils
Pronunciation
US
/ˈraɪfəl/
UK
/ˈraɪfəl/
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘rifle'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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