rifleman

noun

ri·​fle·​man ˈrī-fəl-mən How to pronounce rifleman (audio)
1
: a soldier armed with a rifle
2
: one skilled in shooting with a rifle

Examples of rifleman in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In the better of the two portraits, his grandfather’s face is drowning in a sheet of white, though Mandelbaum included dozens of little doodles to one side: Panzers, riflemen. Jason Farago, New York Times, 20 Dec. 2023 In 1986, five riflemen from Nepal’s famed Gurkhas, a unit of the British Army, were arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport with the drug stashed inside false luggage compartments. Sean Williams, Harper's Magazine, 11 Sep. 2023 Advertisement Whaley had previously completed rifleman training at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina, officials said. Lyndsay Winkley, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Aug. 2023 Penny served in the Marines as a rifleman from 2017 to 2021, reaching the rank of sergeant, according to records provided by the service. Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Washington Post, 6 May 2023 Perez was a rifleman with Bravo Company, Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 1/4, 15th MEU. Peter Martinez, CBS News, 13 Oct. 2020 Harris served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a rifleman from June 2015 to June 2019, according to the military service. Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press, 13 Oct. 2020 Carl Hughes confirmed that his dad was a rifleman at An Hoa Combat Base in the Quang Nam province near Da Nang — the same area where Webb had fought. Cathy Free, Anchorage Daily News, 24 Feb. 2023 Reed, who served two deployments as a Marine rifleman in Afghanistan, founded the nonprofit Global Response Medicine in 2017. Cara Tabachnick, CBS News, 3 Feb. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rifleman.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1775, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of rifleman was in 1775

Dictionary Entries Near rifleman

Cite this Entry

“Rifleman.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rifleman. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

rifleman

noun
ri·​fle·​man ˈrī-fəl-mən How to pronounce rifleman (audio)
1
: a soldier armed with a rifle
2
: a person skilled in shooting with a rifle

More from Merriam-Webster on rifleman

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