How to Use potshot in a Sentence

potshot

noun
  • A sniper was on the roof taking potshots at passing cars.
  • The potshots and the sniping about my role in Wham! — that was water off a duck’s back.
    Rob Tannenbaum, Los Angeles Times, 29 June 2023
  • As for Nixon’s potshot, Buchwald was not the least perturbed.
    Eric Weiner, Washington Post, 9 Sep. 2022
  • In 1993, a jokester did the same thing, although there was no Cash silhouette to take a potshot at back then.
    Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, 19 May 2022
  • Heindorff, on the other hand, took no such potshots thus far.
    Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, 6 Oct. 2018
  • Ardi has been hit with one potshot after another since she was unveiled to the world.
    Jill Neimark, Discover Magazine, 28 July 2011
  • Jon Voight's Christmas card list thanks to an endorsement of Joe Biden that included a potshot at his costar.
    Clark Collis, EW.com, 3 Nov. 2020
  • The Sanders Institute will not be taking any potshots at people.
    David Weigel, Washington Post, 7 June 2017
  • James wasn’t shy with his irritation when LaVar Ball took potshots at him last season.
    Nancy Armour, USA TODAY, 5 July 2018
  • Carlson has taken potshots at the Black Lives Matter movement.
    Brian Steinberg, Variety, 26 Apr. 2023
  • Plenty of popcorn-grabbing moments over the past few days as our tech overlords took potshots at each other.
    Lara O’Reilly, WSJ, 3 Apr. 2018
  • Daniels enjoys taking potshots at people who insult her on Twitter — and, of course, at the president.
    Anna North, Vox, 18 Oct. 2018
  • Without their 6-foot-9 star in the paint, the Longhorns’ deep group of dangerous guards resorted to potshots from the perimeter against Miami’s porous defense.
    Dave Skretta, Chicago Tribune, 26 Mar. 2023
  • And on the whole, the show itself rarely veered from that course, with presenters lining up to deliver canned speeches and the occasional glancing potshot.
    Scott Meslow, GQ, 18 Sep. 2017
  • The tone throughout is fun to read, especially when the book takes potshots at gentrification, prison food and Sammy Sosa.
    SFChronicle.com, 21 June 2019
  • Frustration will set in, and it will be augmented by Peterson and Hood’s ruthless potshots.
    Andy Benoit, SI.com, 19 July 2017
  • Warren has been steadily gaining on Sanders in polls over the last several months, but the rivals — who describe themselves as friends — have not taken potshots at each other.
    Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2019
  • Without their 6-foot-9 star, the Longhorns’ deep group of dangerous guards resorted to potshots from the perimeter against Miami’s porous defense.
    Dave Skretta, ajc, 27 Mar. 2023
  • Half the people who took potshots at him are probably secretly (or in some cases not so secretly) pulling for Russia anyway.
    Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 27 Feb. 2023
  • Koepka’s potshot at Johnson broke every gentleman’s rule in golf.
    Scott Ostler, SFChronicle.com, 9 Aug. 2020
  • Could the loss — and their coach’s words — be enough motivation for Colorado players previously powered by potshots?
    Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2023
  • If the shooter has a serious health condition then is taking potshots at the GOP house leadership considered self defense?
    Ian Prasad Philbrick, Slate Magazine, 22 June 2017
  • In Washington, President Trump has not missed any opportunity to take potshots at the nuclear deal as part of his attacks on all things Obama.
    Brian Murphy, Washington Post, 3 July 2017
  • The home side dominated possession in the first half and created the better of the chances, with Inter reduced to taking potshots from distance in order to give Marco Sportiello anything to do in the Fiorentina goal.
    SI.com, 5 Jan. 2018
  • Governments quickly lined up to take potshots at the commission’s proposal.
    The Economist, 5 May 2018
  • But there’s also a deep rabbit hole of older Orson depictions out there, most delivered in playful, potshot fashion.
    Chris Vognar, Los Angeles Times, 6 Jan. 2021
  • On the other, Gilbert lived down to the worst stereotypes of an entitled and scorned billionaire owner by publicly lobbing personal potshots at his former franchise player.
    Ben Golliver, SI.com, 20 June 2017
  • While Hucker was onstage, the governor began taking potshots on Twitter.
    John Kelly, Washington Post, 14 Mar. 2023
  • What remains unclear is why the British media took prosecco potshots at this particular moment.
    Elisabetta Povoledo, The Seattle Times, 2 Sep. 2017
  • Aleksandar Trajkovski barrelled into the Italian defense and took a speculative potshot from 20 yards, only to find the bottom corner of the Italian goal.
    Joshua Robinson, WSJ, 24 Mar. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'potshot.' 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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