mass shooting

[ mas shoot-ing ]

noun

1. a single incident involving the shooting with one or more firearms of a number of people, but more than two and typically a large number, especially when the victims are random:

   There's news of a mass shooting at the stadium, with two fatalities and 25 injured.

Word History and Origins

Origin of mass shooting¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

We’ve seen especially a lot of inspiration coming from manifestos, particularly after mass shootings.

From Vox

The church has survived racial acts of terror, including bombings, fires and mass shootings.

From Washington Post

There were 417 mass shootings by the end of 2019, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one where four or more people are shot.

From TruthBeTold.news

After a mass shooting in the United States, the conversation that always arises is whether new gun laws are needed to make the country safe.

From TruthBeTold.news

States with less strict gun laws have more mass shootings than those with stricter gun laws, the Post article found.

From TruthBeTold.news

Another mass shooting has taken the lives of innocent kids, interrupting Benghazi coverage on Fox News.

From The Daily Beast

Since then, a country with the same frontier history as the United States has not experienced one mass shooting.

From The Daily Beast

Obama attended a similar ceremony at the base five years ago, after a previous mass shooting left 13 soldiers dead.

From The Daily Beast

She was 22 when I encountered her in 2007 at Virginia Tech in the aftermath of the mass shooting there.

From The Daily Beast

Yesterday the president gave another speech honoring the victims of another mass shooting.

From The Daily Beast