potshot
a shot fired at game merely for food, with little regard to skill or the rules of sport.
a shot at an animal or person within easy range, as from ambush.
a casual or aimless shot.
a random or incidental criticism: to take a potshot at military spending in a speech on taxation.
to fire or aim potshots: critics potshotting at the administration.
Origin of potshot
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use potshot in a sentence
No; he had stalked his small bird till he got within thirty yards of the bough where it was perched, and taken a steady pot-shot.
Dr. Jolliffe's Boys | Lewis Hough"They're droppin' back to pot-shot us," Blackburn said to Shorty.
The Trail Horde | Charles Alden SeltzerHe's probably scared some German sympathizer may take a pot shot at him for filling these contracts.
The Gray Mask | Wadsworth CampHe's there in the back room, I reckon, but he's damn liable to take a pot shot at you when you go in.
Bob Hampton of Placer | Randall ParrishSome men in the mob had rifles and now and then a pot-shot would be taken at the fleeing figure.
The Centralia Conspiracy | Ralph Chaplin
British Dictionary definitions for pot shot
a chance shot taken casually, hastily, or without careful aim
a shot fired to kill game in disregard of the rules of sport
a shot fired at quarry within easy range, often from an ambush
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
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