Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who is highly proficient at shooting.
  • noun The second military grade of proficiency in the use of rifles and other small arms.
  • noun One who holds this grade of proficiency.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One skilled in shooting with firearms, especially with the rifle; specifically, in military use, a skirmisher, or the occupant of a rifle-pit, posted to cut off outlying parties of the enemy, artillerists, or the like, or to prevent approach by the enemy to a ford or other object of importance.
  • noun A swift, clipper-built schooner.
  • noun Specifically: A soldier who makes 60 per cent, at target practice at ranges up to 1,000 yards.
  • noun Any one of several hemipterous insects which puncture the cotton-boll, sometimes causing it to rot. Homalodisca coagulata is one of the commonest forms. The Mexican cotton-boll weevil was often called a ‘sharp-shooter’ when it was new in Texas.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One skilled in shooting at an object with exactness; a good marksman.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A person trained to shoot precisely with a certain type of rifle; a marksman

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a fast schooner once used by New England fisherman for illegal fishing in Canadian waters
  • noun someone skilled in shooting
  • noun an athlete noted for accurate aim

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

calque translation of German Scharfschütze

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Examples

  • He admitted that the long red scar on his upper arm had been drilled by a sharpshooter from a German Fokker, but added hurriedly that it was of no consequence, as he had made a good landing.

    IV. Book Four: The Voyage of the Anchises 1922

  • He admitted that the long red scar on his upper arm had been drilled by a sharpshooter from a German

    One of Ours Willa Sibert Cather 1910

  • Pierce's Disease almost always kills the host plant, hence the fear that the sharpshooter is a significant threat to the multi-million dollar California wine industry.

    Archive 2002-07-01 John L. Trapp 2002

  • GRACE: So you're saying these so-called sharpshooter isn't so sharp?

    CNN Transcript Oct 20, 2002 2002

  • Pierce's Disease almost always kills the host plant, hence the fear that the sharpshooter is a significant threat to the multi-million dollar California wine industry.

    The Glassy-winged Sharpshooter is a What? John L. Trapp 2002

  • It's a measure of Coach Hiro's grasp of the game that the Knights won their league without the presence of a tall sharpshooter, which is what Hiro was some two decades ago.

    Starbulletin Headlines 2009

  • The violence erupted later in the afternoon, and it's very clear that a sharpshooter was the one responsible for killing one of the protesters near the airport entrance.

    Democracy Now! 2009

  • The sharpshooter is a half-inch-long insect that damages grape vines 'circulation, interrupting the flow of water and nutrients.

    unknown title 2009

  • It's a measure of Coach Hiro's grasp of the game that the Knights won their league without the presence of a tall sharpshooter, which is what Hiro was some two decades ago.

    Starbulletin Headlines 2009

  • That is to say 'load and fire', or 'sharpshooter'.

    Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official William Sleeman 1822

  • Such unmasking may contribute to what forensic experts call the sharpshooter fallacy: Someone fires a bullet in the side of a barn and then draws a circle around the bullet hole afterward to show they’ve hit their mark.

    Can We Identify a Person From Their Voice? Peter Andrey Smith 2023

  • Such unmasking may contribute to what forensic experts call the sharpshooter fallacy: Someone fires a bullet in the side of a barn and then draws a circle around the bullet hole afterward to show they’ve hit their mark.

    Can We Identify a Person From Their Voice? Peter Andrey Smith 2023

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  • a good dancer who spends his money freely

    October 8, 2010