1
: a battle fought with handguns or rifles
2
: something resembling a shoot-out
broadly : showdown
3
: a shooting competition in overtime that is used to determine the winner of a game (as in soccer or hockey) tied at the end of regular play

Examples of shoot-out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Adams and Britt Ekland don't add much besides eye candy, but the climactic shoot-out in Scaramanga's hall-of-mirrors fun house is a thrilling homage to Orson Welles' 1948 film The Lady From Shanghai. Chris Nashawaty, EW.com, 29 May 2024 Police used parts of their house for cover during the firefight, and drove an armored vehicle through the backyard, damaging parts of the property on the way to the shoot-out, Chhoeun said. Catherine Muccigrosso, Charlotte Observer, 28 May 2024 Earlier, fest organizers announced nominations for the Rockie Awards, with American and British TV producers set for their traditional competition shoot-out in the Canadian Rockies with a field led by series like Succession, Abbot Elementary and The Masked Singer. Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 May 2024 But what struck me was the talking black cat and the killer clown having a shoot-out with the KGB, bullets flying everywhere, and, impossibly, no one getting hit. Lizz Schumer, Peoplemag, 1 Apr. 2024 The murderous shoot-out at Club Polina that grievously injured yakuza boss Hitoshi Ishida (Shun Sagata) and killed suave customer Masahiro Ohno (Takayuki Suzuki) still has unanswered questions. Christian Holub, EW.com, 13 Mar. 2024 But this is really about the rush of watching Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt making goo-goo eyes at each other in between the occasional explosions, high-pursuit car chases, shoot-outs and industry in-jokes. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 13 Mar. 2024 After dispatching a penalty in regular time, Troost-Ekong made no mistake during the subsequent shoot-out to help send his side into the final in Abidjan. Callum Sutherland, CNN, 4 Mar. 2024 The script called for Baldwin’s character, an outlaw named Harland Rust, to prepare for a shoot-out in the chapel. Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'shoot-out.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1948, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of shoot-out was in 1948

Dictionary Entries Near shoot-out

Cite this Entry

“Shoot-out.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shoot-out. Accessed 6 Jun. 2024.

Kids Definition

shoot-out

noun
ˈshüt-ˌau̇t
: a battle fought with handguns or rifles
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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