as in to search
to look through (as a place) carefully or thoroughly in an effort to find or discover something
rifled the desk drawer in search of the insurance policy
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in shotgun
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of rifle
Janelle Griffith, People.com, 28 Aug. 2025
Westman, who was armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, died by suicide, officials said.
—Gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Aug. 2025
James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Aug. 2025
Tagovailoa rifled a pass to Waddle for 10 yards....
—Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 29 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for rifle
Verb
Westman was armed with a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, police said.
—Janelle Griffith, People.com, 28 Aug. 2025
Westman, who was armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, died by suicide, officials said.
—Gabe Whisnant, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Aug. 2025
Noun
Despite the rough start of 1-4, the team would rifle off a 5-1 record in the final six games of the regular season.
—James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Aug. 2025
Tagovailoa rifled a pass to Waddle for 10 yards....
—Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 29 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for rifle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rifle
Verb
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California sheriff’s deputies are still searching for a missing infant after his parents were arrested on murder charges.—
Melina Khan,
USA Today,
24 Aug. 2025
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Deputies searched for the toddler and man throughout the day.—
Jennifer Rodriguez,
Kansas City Star,
24 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Pirro said a blanket ban on possessing shotguns and rifles violates the court's 2022 ruling that struck down a New York gun law and held that people have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.—
Landon Mion,
FOXNews.com,
21 Aug. 2025
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The couple loaded their Remington shotguns with three steel buckshots apiece.—
Nathaniel Rich,
Harpers Magazine,
20 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Many Swifties have very strong opinions about the singer’s personal life, and Swift has always invited her fans to comb her work for clues and easter eggs about future projects.—
Dani Di Placido,
Forbes.com,
28 Aug. 2025
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The researchers are combing the site meter by meter using a kind of underwater vacuum cleaner to collect material for future analysis.—
Jason Ma,
Fortune,
26 Aug. 2025
Noun
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On April 19, 1775, the crack of a musket marked the first official command for colonists to fire upon the red-coated army of Britain’s King George III.—
Lisa Meyers McClintick,
USA Today,
21 June 2025
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Depictions of Warren tend to show him in military uniform, with a sword or a musket.—
Eliza McGraw,
Smithsonian Magazine,
17 June 2025
Verb
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Chores follow: mucking the chicken coop and turtle cages, raking the backyard, organizing tools in the workshop.—
Chandler Fritz,
Harpers Magazine,
20 Aug. 2025
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Another key strategy for Sunderland to create those wide situations was through raking crossfield passes, most effectively struck by centre-back Luke O’Nien.—
Thom Harris,
New York Times,
13 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Beretta traces its history to 1526, when Bartolomeo Beretta (d. 1565), a rifle barrel maker in the small northern Italian town of Gardone, sold 185 arquebus barrels—a handheld long gun and a forerunner to the modern rifle—to the Republic of Venice.—
Giacomo Tognini,
Forbes,
25 Mar. 2025
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The worshipers insisted on congregating to pray at the crucifix in the local church and threatened to shoot with an arquebus – a long gun used during the Renaissance period – anyone who got in their way.—
Hannah Marcus,
The Conversation,
25 Sep. 2020
Noun
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The flintlock pistol that Torres is given by the Yautja to fight his fellow prisoners is known by Predator fans as the Raphael Adolini 1715 pistol for an engraved plate that says just that.—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
13 June 2025
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Although a gunshot from a flintlock pistol lasts only an eye blink, the sound is composed of numerous elements: the squeeze of the trigger, the strike of the firing mechanism against the flint, the ignition of the powder, the slug’s passage through the barrel, the report, the impact.—
Alexis Soloski,
New York Times,
3 Jan. 2025
Noun
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First-generation matchlock rifles, tanks, and aircraft had major limitations but improved over time.—
Paul Scharre,
Foreign Affairs,
15 Feb. 2018
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Guns are a part of American life, and have been since the very beginning, from the matchlock muskets arming the earliest colonies to the Colt revolvers and Winchester rifles of the Old West to the Glock handgun of today.—
Kyle Mizokami,
Popular Mechanics,
7 Mar. 2018
Cite this Entry
“Rifle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rifle. Accessed 4 Sep. 2025.
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