gunfight

[ guhn-fahyt ]

/ ˈgʌnˌfaɪt /

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noun

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

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Origin of gunfight

First recorded in 1650–60; gun¹ + fight

Words nearby gunfight

guncotton, gun crew, gun deck, gundi, gun dog, gunfight, gunfighter, gunfire, gunflint, gun for, “Gunga Din”

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use gunfight in a sentence

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.
Don’t read this ‘Deathloop’ preview|Mike Hume|August 26, 2021|Washington Post
He’d won the Police Combat Cross, the department’s second-highest honor, for his role in a gunfight in the Bronx.
Operation Fox Hunt: How China Exports Repression Using a Network of Spies Hidden in Plain Sight|by Sebastian Rotella and Kirsten Berg|July 22, 2021|ProPublica
This is a gunfight Even so, starting early, water, sunblock, and good intentions won’t cut it.
7 things you can do to actually prevent wrinkles|Sandra Gutierrez|July 13, 2021|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.
‘Cyberpunk 2077,’ three months later|Gene Park|March 12, 2021|Washington Post

When the gunfight ended, the bodies were handed over to the families.
Four Sons, One War: All Dead|Eugene Robinson|September 25, 2020|Ozy
This year, you stop bringing a pleasant, reasonable knife to a gunfight.
Crushing Christmas: How to Win Every Argument|Kelly Williams Brown|December 24, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Murray added: “Schneiderman is bringing a knife to a gunfight.”
Inside the Donald Trump–Eric Schneiderman TV Food Fight|Lloyd Grove|August 29, 2013|DAILY BEAST
This weekend I posted a book club entry about Adam Winkler's important history of US gun law, Gunfight.
No, the 2nd Amendment Does Not Authorize Armed Sedition|David Frum|March 25, 2013|DAILY BEAST
“Many of those Libyans died in the gunfight fighting off the attackers,” one of the officials said.
Obama’s Shaky Libya Narrative|Eli Lake|September 21, 2012|DAILY BEAST
There was no 40-minute gunfight, he writes, and the SEALs were not fired at as they approached the compound.
SEALs Book on Raid to Kill Osama Contradicts Administration’s Version in Several Key Spots|The Daily Beast|August 29, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Natural target in a gunfight, and in a rough-and-tumble it gets them all tangled up.
Null-ABC|Henry Beam Piper and John Joseph McGuire
The gunfight destroyed his faith in his ability to do it—or most of it, anyway.
The Draw|Jerome Bixby

British Dictionary definitions for gunfight

gunfight

/ (ˈɡʌnˌfaɪt) /

noun

mainly US a fight between persons using firearms

Derived forms of gunfight

gunfighter, noungunfighting, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012