sniper
Britishnoun
Explanation
A soldier or police officer who specializes in shooting a gun very accurately from far away is a sniper. The U.S. Army has a special sniper school for training soldiers. Sometimes criminal shooters are described as snipers, especially if they shoot at people from a hidden spot. However, this word most often means "trained marksman," especially someone who's trained in the armed forces or by law enforcement, like a member of a SWAT team. Sniper comes from the less-common verb snipe, "shoot birds from a hidden place," from the noun snipe, "long-billed marsh bird."
Vocabulary lists containing sniper
"The Sniper" by Liam O’Flaherty
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Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom
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Because of Mr. Terupt
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The author of the memoir “The Red Circle” and “The Killing School: Inside the World’s Deadliest Sniper Program,” never imagined he’d write a parenting book.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026
Further details surfaced in 2023 with the publication of, “The Sniper: The Untold Story of the Marine Corps’ Greatest Marksman of All Time” by Jim Lindsay.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 18, 2024
Sniper Evgenya Emerald says that despite such issues, "war doesn't have a gender".
From BBC • Aug. 1, 2023
"Unflinching: The Making of a Canadian Sniper" is also described as raw; unflinching's in the title.
From Salon • Nov. 1, 2022
"If that tug had been 'arf a second later," declared one, "she'd 'ave 'ad us, Sniper, sure—to th' port, there, Bobby, there's another chap kickin' in th' water."
From The Cruise of the Dry Dock by Stribling, T. S.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
