How to Use machine-gun in a Sentence

machine-gun

1 of 2 adjective
  • The melody and Coriolanus’ calls to Lucy Gray come alive in the woods, prompting him to machine-gun the trees to stop the noise.
    EW.com, 17 Nov. 2023
  • But the men on the hill were ready and laid down suppressive machine-gun fire of their own.
    Oleksandr Chubko, New York Times, 22 Oct. 2023
  • His team flew toward a farmhouse that held a machine-gun nest.
    Michael Wilson, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2023
  • The bullets were clipped together in long strands for rapid, machine-gun fire.
    Nick Penzenstadler, USA TODAY, 8 Sep. 2023
  • Hundreds of thousands have fled to the south, leaving a silence broken only by the pop of machine-gun fire and the heavy thrum of Israeli tanks.
    Steve Hendrix, Washington Post, 19 Nov. 2023
  • The darkness soon erupted with machine-gun fire, thudding bazookas and something else.
    David Wharton, Los Angeles Times, 22 June 2023
  • Suddenly, a German fighter plane pounced on the lumbering Liberator and tore it in half with a burst of machine-gun fire.
    Steve Straessle, Arkansas Online, 3 July 2023
  • Getting hooked on Hearn’s machine-gun delivery led to the Lakers becoming his favorite team.
    Scott Howard-Cooper., Los Angeles Times, 3 Mar. 2024
  • All morning, fighting could be heard throughout the area, most of it machine-gun fire and shelling, as Israeli troops advancing deeper into Gaza clashed with Hamas fighters.
    Patrick Kingsley Avishag Shaar-Yashuv, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2024
  • At least two Soviet MiGs — accounts of how many exactly vary — appeared suddenly and strafed the Neptune with machine-gun fire that tore into the plane and set the left engine afire.
    Zachariah Hughes, Anchorage Daily News, 30 Mar. 2023
  • Smedley, for whom a stretch of Interstate 4 between Orange and Seminole counties is named, died in a one-man assault on an enemy machine-gun nest in Vietnam.
    Stephen Hudak, Orlando Sentinel, 29 Mar. 2023
  • Depending on drive mode and throttle position, the eight-speed PDK dual-clutch transmission can be machine-gun quick or comfortably relaxed.
    Georg Kacher, Car and Driver, 22 Aug. 2023
  • People were trapped in the open, incinerated, asphyxiated and strafed with machine-gun fire.
    Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
  • The film’s fashion reputation preceded it; fans with temporary machine-gun tattoos mobbed the red carpet.
    Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, The Atlantic, 10 Mar. 2024
  • In Mexico, drug cartels have recently outfitted monster trucks with battering rams and machine-gun turrets to use in shootouts.
    Zach Helfand, The New Yorker, 14 Aug. 2023
  • Weber said modern inkjet printers with complicated, glitch-prone software remind him of his father’s complex machine-gun printer.
    Shira Ovide, Washington Post, 14 July 2023
  • In this portrait of a remote and insular place, the machine-gun loquaciousness of both Eli and Naomi lays bare a spectacular self-confidence, but one that’s tinged with desperation and thrives on conflict of the high school melodrama sort.
    Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter, 8 June 2023
  • The planes relentlessy pounded anti-aircraft and machine-gun positions and rocket installations.
    Merrie Monteagudo, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 June 2023
  • The melody and Coriolanus’ calls to Lucy Gray come alive in the woods, prompting him to machine-gun the trees to stop the noise.
    EW.com, 17 Nov. 2023
  • But the men on the hill were ready and laid down suppressive machine-gun fire of their own.
    Oleksandr Chubko, New York Times, 22 Oct. 2023
  • His team flew toward a farmhouse that held a machine-gun nest.
    Michael Wilson, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2023
  • The bullets were clipped together in long strands for rapid, machine-gun fire.
    Nick Penzenstadler, USA TODAY, 8 Sep. 2023
  • Hundreds of thousands have fled to the south, leaving a silence broken only by the pop of machine-gun fire and the heavy thrum of Israeli tanks.
    Steve Hendrix, Washington Post, 19 Nov. 2023
  • The darkness soon erupted with machine-gun fire, thudding bazookas and something else.
    David Wharton, Los Angeles Times, 22 June 2023
  • Suddenly, a German fighter plane pounced on the lumbering Liberator and tore it in half with a burst of machine-gun fire.
    Steve Straessle, Arkansas Online, 3 July 2023
  • Getting hooked on Hearn’s machine-gun delivery led to the Lakers becoming his favorite team.
    Scott Howard-Cooper., Los Angeles Times, 3 Mar. 2024
  • All morning, fighting could be heard throughout the area, most of it machine-gun fire and shelling, as Israeli troops advancing deeper into Gaza clashed with Hamas fighters.
    Patrick Kingsley Avishag Shaar-Yashuv, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2024
  • At least two Soviet MiGs — accounts of how many exactly vary — appeared suddenly and strafed the Neptune with machine-gun fire that tore into the plane and set the left engine afire.
    Zachariah Hughes, Anchorage Daily News, 30 Mar. 2023
  • Smedley, for whom a stretch of Interstate 4 between Orange and Seminole counties is named, died in a one-man assault on an enemy machine-gun nest in Vietnam.
    Stephen Hudak, Orlando Sentinel, 29 Mar. 2023
  • Depending on drive mode and throttle position, the eight-speed PDK dual-clutch transmission can be machine-gun quick or comfortably relaxed.
    Georg Kacher, Car and Driver, 22 Aug. 2023
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machine gun

2 of 2 noun
  • They heard the sound of machine-gun fire.
  • The man left his machine gun in Ukraine and owed a large fine for losing it.
    Sarah A. Topol, New York Times, 20 Sep. 2024
  • The weapon is considered a machine gun under federal law.
    Fox News, 15 July 2021
  • Once all the Pogues are on the lifeboat, there's a tense moment where the boat stalls, and Rafe has the chance to shoot them with a machine gun.
    Quinci Legardye, Harper's BAZAAR, 1 Aug. 2021
  • He's been charged with one count of attempting to commit a hate crime and one count of illegally possessing a machine gun.
    Zoe Christen Jones, CBS News, 21 July 2021
  • The weapons charge is from a 2002 case in which he was caught in possession of a fully automatic machine gun.
    Gabrielle Settles, USA TODAY, 17 Sep. 2024
  • One centerfold shows a woman on all fours, with a machine gun hanging at a diagonal between her legs, against a backdrop of camouflage netting.
    Johanna Ekström, The New Yorker, 22 July 2021
  • The man in custody has a long criminal and civil court history, including a conviction for possessing a machine gun.
    Elizabeth Both, NBC News, 16 Sep. 2024
  • Several vehicles fitted with machine guns and other weapons have been displayed, but there is little indication of their being used in combat.
    David Hambling, Forbes, 20 Sep. 2024
  • In 2002, court records show, Routh was convicted of illegally possessing a machine gun.
    Corky Siemaszko, NBC News, 17 Sep. 2024
  • Dayan also described how a remotely operated machine gun fixed to a pickup truck killed Fakhrizadeh and later self-destructed.
    Jon Gambrell, ajc, 12 June 2021
  • Tres Genco, 21, of Hillsboro, is charged with attempting to commit a hate crime and unlawful possession of a machine gun.
    Adam Ferrise, cleveland, 22 July 2021
  • Bonus points for Devon Aoki’s role as the most stylish student of the bunch, firing a machine gun at her enemies with a cigarette firmly planted between her lips.
    Liam Hes, Vogue, 14 July 2021
  • Dodging mines and firing its machine gun in coordination with explosive drones and mortars, the ’bot defeated a small group of Russian soldiers.
    David Axe, Forbes, 19 Sep. 2024
  • He is also charged with one count of illegally possessing a machine gun, which is punishable by up to 10 years, the DOJ said in a statement.
    Haley Yamada, ABC News, 22 July 2021
  • The rifle uses heavy machine gun rounds and has a range of up to four miles.
    Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 22 Sep. 2022
  • He had been issued a machine gun and was headed to the war.
    Robyn Dixon, Washington Post, 6 Aug. 2022
  • The gun in question was the notorious Thompson machine gun, and the time was the 1920s.
    Robert J. Spitzer, Time, 6 June 2023
  • Two-Face's whole role is to barge into scenes with a machine gun.
    Darren Franich, EW.com, 27 Jan. 2022
  • The enemies have the machine gun while most of us are still hurling rocks.
    Carlo Tortora Brayda, Forbes, 17 July 2023
  • There’s even a dude in a panda suit firing a machine gun!
    Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 6 Aug. 2021
  • It is equipped with a 30 mm gun, a machine gun and/or a grenade launcher, and can travel up to 60 miles per hour.
    Arkansas Online, 19 Jan. 2023
  • The logo depicts a big bee in a sailor cap holding a hammer, a wrench, and a machine gun.
    Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 13 July 2023
  • Another soldier in the unit, 57-year-old Zil, ripped a machine gun out of the hands of a Russian corpse.
    Kamila Hrabchuk, Washington Post, 13 Oct. 2022
  • The sounds of machine gun fire punctuated the pair’s race to safety.
    Carolyn Hagler, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Sep. 2023
  • The Merkava, the Namer and the Puma all have 7.62 caliber machine guns, Butterworth said.
    Cate Brown, Washington Post, 16 Apr. 2024
  • The Palestinians come in and gun down 20 civilians with a machine gun.
    Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY, 10 Sep. 2021
  • In 2022, Russians came knocking on the door with their machine guns, looking for Nazis.
    Krista Stevens, Longreads, 18 Sep. 2023
  • Note the machine gun attached to one of the bicycles at lower right.
    Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 17 Apr. 2024
  • After the four gunners before him had been shot in the face, Andrews was ordered to take over the machine gun.
    Fox News, 11 Nov. 2022

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

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