marksman
Americannoun
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marksmen
plural
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a person who is skilled in shooting at a mark; a person who shoots well.
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Military.
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the lowest rating in rifle marksmanship, below that of sharpshooter and expert.
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a person who has achieved such a rating.
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noun
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a person skilled in shooting
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a serviceman selected for his skill in shooting, esp for a minor engagement
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a qualification awarded in certain armed services for skill in shooting
Gender
See -man.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of marksman
Explanation
A marksman is someone who is excellent at shooting a gun. A skilled marksman hits the bull’s eye every time. The word mark is from the Middle English word for “target,” so a marksman is a man (or woman) who has excellent aim and shoots a target. In many westerns, the hero is a marksman capable of hitting a small target that’s far away. In real life, police officers and members of the military are trained to be marksmen. Women can be marksmen, too, but if the name bugs you, call them sharpshooters.
Vocabulary lists containing marksman
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Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam
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Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
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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.
See Examples For:
He is an expert marksman continuously trained in specialized breaching, perimeter control and hostage rescue skills, McLaughlin said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
Los Angeles FC marksman Denis Bouanga then fired in Gabon's second, leaving Emerse Fae's team up against it.
From Barron's ● Dec. 31, 2025
A marksman, she has been deployed to the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the Baltic states and South Korea.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2025
The first was classic Salah, his mere presence seemingly scrambling the mind of Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, whose injudicious dash from goal was enough for Liverpool’s marksman to swoop.
From BBC ● Nov. 24, 2024
Grossman says that when he measured the heart rate of champion marksman Ron Avery, Avery’s pulse was at the top of that range when he was performing in the field.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
But there’s one player who scores more frequently than any of those legendary marksmen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Uniformed marksmen spray the mob with cold water.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
An XL Bully believed to be the same dog which escaped when marksmen opened fire on it last week has been found and put down, police have said.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2025
A hero, an ace swashbuckler and an expert marksmen, no one ever wonders if Link is too delicate to save the magical kingdom of Hyrule.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2024
It was a lot harder than it looked but after a while I got pretty good thanks to all the expert marksmen hanging around disguised as milkmaids.
From "How I Live Now" by Meg Rosoff
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.
