shootout
Americannoun
-
a gunfight that must end in defeat for one side or the other, as between gunfighters in the Old West, criminal groups, or law-enforcement officers and criminals.
-
Slang. any military conflict or skirmish.
-
Slang. a high-scoring or intensely played game or tournament, as of basketball or ice hockey.
-
Soccer. a method of breaking a tie score at the end of overtime in which five players from each team alternate shooting at the opponent's goal, starting from a spot 35 yards (39 meters) from the goal line, in an attempt to kick the ball past the rival goalkeeper in under five seconds.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of shootout
1945–50; noun use of verb phrase shoot ( it ) out to settle a dispute with firearms
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:
Last month, Klopp watched on as a touchline TV pundit as Germany went out of the World Cup in a shock penalty shootout defeat by Paraguay.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Volpato played in three of Australia's four World Cup matches as they reached the round of 32, where they were knocked out by Egypt in a penalty shootout.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Rather than a shootout or penalty kicks, the championship was decided by a single moment of quality in one of the tournament’s tightest contests.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026
The game took place days after the Netherlands' semi-final penalty shootout defeat by Argentina and after Brazil's humiliating 7-1 loss to Germany on home soil.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
And, like a grizzled extra scurrying out of the bar just before the climactic final shootout in a grade B Hollywood Western, Bud dropped a dollar onto the table and hurriedly split.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
Excluding shootouts, Opta records show he has scored 114 of his 148 attempts, a conversion rate of 77%.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
He has taken Argentina's opening penalty in nine shootouts, converting seven, with his only misses coming against Chile in the 2016 Copa America final and Ecuador in the 2024 Copa América quarter-final.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
But after four memorable shootouts in the last 32 and last 16, we thought it was worth crunching the numbers once again.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Of the 26 'stutter' penalties taken during this World Cup - penalty shootouts included - 11 have not been scored, which leads to a conversion rate of 57%.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
In addition, more than 52 percent of the shootouts between extremists and police now involve white extremists.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
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.
