firing squad

noun

1. a military detachment assigned to execute a condemned person by shooting.

2. a military detachment assigned to fire a salute at the burial of a person being honored.

firing squad

noun

1. a small military detachment formed to implement a death sentence by shooting

Word History and Origins

Origin of firing squad¹

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

One insider to the process has told me she had already decided to resign because she didn't have confidence in the board and viewed them as a "circular firing squad".

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He provided the testimony that led to a series of arrests—then interrogations and torture, followed in most cases by a final march to the gallows, firing squad or guillotine.

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Eventually captured by Hungarian patrolmen and executed by a firing squad, Senesh might have been one more name on the endless ledger of Holocaust victims.

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And because it was his only chance to avoid the firing squad.

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These brilliant episodes describe gangster murders, war injuries, firing squads, hangings and bullfight triumphs and deaths.

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