How to Use a shot across the/someone's bow(s) in a Sentence

a shot across the/someone's bow(s)

idiom
  • China replied with a shot across the bow on rare earths.
    Ben Harburg, Fortune, 18 Sep. 2023
  • The baby formula shortage is a shot across the bow of the FDA.
    Peter J. Pitts, STAT, 3 June 2022
  • The case was a boon to white-collar lawyers and a shot across the bow of international sports.
    Tariq Panja, New York Times, 27 Jan. 2024
  • Uh, Dan Tierney took a shot across the bow at president Biden.
    Laura Johnston, cleveland, 23 June 2022
  • Before Arone and Kindred’s connection ramped up, King Philip (9-2) opened the game with a shot across the bow.
    Brendan Kurie, BostonGlobe.com, 25 Nov. 2021
  • Experts said the move is significant, but still short of firing a shot across the bow.
    Jamie L. Lareau, Detroit Free Press, 7 June 2022
  • This is a shot across the bow to proponents of the climate security frame.
    Keith Kloor, Discover Magazine, 6 Oct. 2011
  • Even his offensive assistants took a shot across the bow.
    Kevin Sherrington, Dallas News, 14 Oct. 2020
  • This road car with racetrack roots emerged as a shot across the bow of Jaguar after its comely E-type was unveiled at the 1961 Geneva Motor show.
    Erik Shilling, Robb Report, 12 Apr. 2024
  • The lawsuit is a shot across the bow at one of America’s most successful tech companies.
    Gary Shapiro, Fortune, 3 Aug. 2022
  • Gazprom blamed the move on the West’s decision to withhold vital turbines because of sanctions, but it was seen by politicians in Europe as a shot across the bow.
    Julia Horowitz, CNN, 11 July 2022
  • Southern whites viewed Lincoln’s election as a shot across the bow, an act of unbridled aggression.
    Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, The New Republic, 21 Dec. 2020
  • These steps amount to a shot across the bow of the oil industry and could eventually depress US fossil fuel production.
    Matt Egan, CNN, 26 Feb. 2021
  • Loeffler delivered a shot across the bow Saturday that suggested more dirt on Warnock is coming.
    Marisa Schultz, Fox News, 14 Nov. 2020
  • Yet the move could be a shot across the bow, as Florida has become a haven for billionaires who often fund and launch food innovations meant to remediate the effects of climate change.
    Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 3 May 2024
  • Nick Saban probably didn’t mean it as a shot across the bow of his former offensive coordinator.
    Nick Moyle, San Antonio Express-News, 8 Sep. 2022
  • Yulia Mamonova, head of content at Lemon.io—a marketplace of vetted software developers—poses that question, making a shot across the bow.
    Bryan Robinson, Forbes, 4 Oct. 2022
  • The decision was in many ways a shot across the bow for California officials and residents who have long prided themselves for being a liberal bastion somehow shielded from the edicts of the conservative high court.
    Kevin Rectorstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 17 July 2022
  • The audacious 1,250-cubic-centimeter Pan America Special is a shot across the bow to the European manufacturers that have long dominated this niche market.
    Mark Gardiner, New York Times, 31 May 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'a shot across the/someone's bow(s).' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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