firing squad
Americannoun
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a military detachment assigned to execute a condemned person by shooting.
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a military detachment assigned to fire a salute at the burial of a person being honored.
noun
Etymology
Origin of firing squad
First recorded in 1900–05
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.
“These kids did an adult job, basically facing a firing squad every day,” her daughter-in-law, Libby Boyce, said in an interview.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 6, 2025
Randy Gardner, the brother of Ronnie Gardner, who was executed by firing squad in 2010, agrees with Antognini.
From Slate • Mar. 11, 2025
A woman from the Philippines who spent almost 15 years on death row in Indonesia and was nearly executed by firing squad is on her way home.
From BBC • Dec. 17, 2024
The state asked the Supreme Court to toss out a lower court ruling after a 2022 trial that the electric chair and the firing squad are cruel and unusual punishments.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 2, 2023
It was a true account of the death before an American firing squad of Private Eddie D. Slovik, 36896415, the only American soldier to be shot for cowardice since the Civil War.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
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.
