sniper
Britishnoun
Explanation
A soldier or police officer who specializes in shooting a gun very accurately from far away is a sniper. The U.S. Army has a special sniper school for training soldiers. Sometimes criminal shooters are described as snipers, especially if they shoot at people from a hidden spot. However, this word most often means "trained marksman," especially someone who's trained in the armed forces or by law enforcement, like a member of a SWAT team. Sniper comes from the less-common verb snipe, "shoot birds from a hidden place," from the noun snipe, "long-billed marsh bird."
Vocabulary lists containing sniper
"The Sniper" by Liam O’Flaherty
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Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom
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Because of Mr. Terupt
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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.
Whether the military requested that transformation — and why it needs a drone and sniper facility at Memorial Circle — remains unexplained.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026
Michael Ross - who was just 15 at the time - was convicted in 2008 after he joined the Army and became a sniper.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
Ross went on to become a sniper in the Black Watch and was decorated for his actions in Iraq.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
If the team had invested any actual energy into brainstorming this entry, they’d have played paintball with a sniper drone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
She noticed a police sniper crawling into position on a rooftop across the street and pointed it out to Sydney and Kat who nodded silently, as if speaking aloud might alert the criminals.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
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.
