gunfight

[ guhn-fahyt ]

noun

1. a battle between two or more people or groups armed with guns, gun, especially a confrontation between two gunfighters using revolvers in the frontier days of the American West.

gunfight

/ ˈɡʌnˌfaɪt /

noun

1. a fight between persons using firearms

Derived Forms

• ˈgunˌfighter, noun
• ˈgunˌfighting, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of gunfight¹

First recorded in 1650–60; gun ¹ + fight

Example Sentences

The gun play is more “Fallout” than “Call of Duty,” which is fine in AI gunfights but might yield some frustration for first-person shooter fans going head-to-head against a human-controlled Julianna.

From Washington Post

He’d won the Police Combat Cross, the department’s second-highest honor, for his role in a gunfight in the Bronx.

From ProPublica

This is a gunfight Even so, starting early, water, sunblock, and good intentions won’t cut it.

From Popular-Science

Sometimes these incidents end with a view from behind the character’s eyeballs, or like this player who ended up in a gunfight trying to shoot while seeing the inside of their mouth.

From Washington Post

When the gunfight ended, the bodies were handed over to the families.

From Ozy

This year, you stop bringing a pleasant, reasonable knife to a gunfight.

From The Daily Beast

Murray added: “Schneiderman is bringing a knife to a gunfight.”

From The Daily Beast

This weekend I posted a book club entry about Adam Winkler's important history of US gun law, Gunfight.

From The Daily Beast

“Many of those Libyans died in the gunfight fighting off the attackers,” one of the officials said.

From The Daily Beast

There was no 40-minute gunfight, he writes, and the SEALs were not fired at as they approached the compound.

From The Daily Beast

Natural target in a gunfight, and in a rough-and-tumble it gets them all tangled up.

From Project Gutenberg

The gunfight destroyed his faith in his ability to do it—or most of it, anyway.

From Project Gutenberg