blunderbuss
Americannoun
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a short musket of wide bore with expanded muzzle to scatter shot, bullets, or slugs at close range.
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an insensitive, blundering person.
noun
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an obsolete short musket with large bore and flared muzzle, used to scatter shot at short range
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informal a clumsy unsubtle person
Etymology
Origin of blunderbuss
1645–55; < Dutch donderbus (equivalent to donder thunder + bus gun, box 1 ) with donder replaced by blunder. See harquebus
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.
There is also a blunderbuss, a precursor to the shotgun, owned by Capt. Michael McClary.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025
Unfortunately, these mouthwashes are a blunderbuss approach to oral health, as they indiscriminately remove both good and bad bacteria and increase oral acidity, which can cause disease.
From Salon • Jan. 30, 2024
Dunphy’s lawsuit, filed last month in state court in New York, “contains a blunderbuss of contradictory allegations,” Giuliani said in his written response last Friday.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 6, 2023
The Ranger ability gives Kirby a blunderbuss that he can use to snipe enemies from afar.
From The Verge • Jan. 12, 2022
I just wished I had been with Atahualpa and his army when the conquistadors fired off that blunderbuss.
From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos
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.
