as in shotgun
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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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rifle
Brendan Cole, Newsweek, 8 Feb. 2025
Related article Reported Swedish shooter lived as recluse in quiet apartment block
AR-15 rifles have been permitted for hunting since 2023 and Strommer said around 3,500 have been licensed since then.
—Reuters, CNN, 7 Feb. 2025
Matt Pyzdrowski, The Athletic, 10 July 2024
The Cowboys would need some steep secondary help to stop the pair from rifling off big plays.
—Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 31 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for rifle 
Noun
The post also had a screen grab of a chat among pro-Moscow sources on Telegram about the elimination of all the command of the 35th separate motor rifle brigade.
—Brendan Cole, Newsweek, 8 Feb. 2025
Related article Reported Swedish shooter lived as recluse in quiet apartment block
AR-15 rifles have been permitted for hunting since 2023 and Strommer said around 3,500 have been licensed since then.
—Reuters, CNN, 7 Feb. 2025
Verb
Van Dijk rifling the ball into the upper left corner despite Kepa already standing in the left corner
If the game against England does go to a shootout, there is a high probability that Van Dijk will be one of the first players Ronald Koeman selects to take one of the Netherlands’ penalties.
—Matt Pyzdrowski, The Athletic, 10 July 2024
The Cowboys would need some steep secondary help to stop the pair from rifling off big plays.
—Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 31 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for rifle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rifle
Noun
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Quarterback Patrick Mahomes lined up in the shotgun formation with running back Kareem Hunt behind him and tight ends Travis Kelce and Noah Gray on either side.—
Kyle Feldscher,
CNN,
8 Feb. 2025
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Football talk is scarce in the NFL’s new three-minute black-and-white promo released today in anticipation of Sunday’s Super Bowl, but with Kendrick Lamar in the driver’s seat, literally, and Timothée Chalamet riding shotgun, few will notice anything else.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
7 Feb. 2025
Verb
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That authenticity is what Williamson has long been searching for in his work.—
Manuel Betancourt,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2025
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Despite nearly two years of searching and over a dozen reports from neighbors, the Animal Services Division continued to list the block as an area of monitoring emphasis.—
Noelle Alviz-Gransee,
Kansas City Star,
10 Feb. 2025
Noun
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The Sassenach’s survival is an important development, given that Mrs. Fraser ended the previous episode with a musket ball in her liver and an alarming amount of her blood on the ground.—
Kimberly Roots,
TVLine,
6 Jan. 2025
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In recent decades, however, the military has also been polluting the home front, most notably with a toxic chemical never heard of in the era of muskets and drums: PFAS.—
Jeffrey Kluger,
TIME,
25 Sep. 2024
Verb
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It has also been decided, unwisely, that Bridget has somehow lost the desire or perhaps the ability to ever comb her hair.—
Stephanie Zacharek,
TIME,
14 Feb. 2025
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In addition to the coaching staff and front office, teams must also comb through their rosters looking for players who have underperformed their salaries and are no viewed as part of the team’s future.—
James Boyd,
The Athletic,
12 Feb. 2025
Verb
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The Lilac fire spread from the edge of nearby I-15 in a southwesterly direction and raked across the rear of a tan-colored home on the eastern side of Ranchos Ladera Road, burning up to the property’s patio.—
Paul Sisson,
The Mercury News,
22 Jan. 2025
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Dash Day had himself quite a time, raking the trap, drawing in the sand and playing with a golf ball while his dad posed for pictures with a trophy and a surfboard — and a check for $1.13 million.—
Kirk Kenney,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
21 Jan. 2025
Noun
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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
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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
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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
Noun
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Cost cutting ‘blunderbuss’ DOGE is part of a long line of presidential efforts to take an ax to the administrative state.—
Zac Anderson,
USA TODAY,
11 Feb. 2025
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Colman is Edith Swan, a middle-aged church lady who still lives with her blunderbuss of a father (Timothy Spall) and mild-mannered mother (Gemma Jones) in a working-class neighborhood of Littlehampton.—
Ty Burr,
Washington Post,
4 Apr. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Rifle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rifle. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
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