POTSHOT Definition & Meaning

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potshot

[ pot-shot ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a shot fired at game merely for food, with little regard to skill or the rules of sport.
a shot at an animal or person within easy range, as from ambush.
a casual or aimless shot.
a random or incidental criticism:
to take a potshot at military spending in a speech on taxation.

verb (used without object)

potshot or potshotted, potshotting.

to fire or aim potshots:
critics potshotting at the administration.

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of potshot¹

First recorded in 1855–60; pot ¹ + shot ¹

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Witness Donald Trump recently questioning the racial identity of his opponent, Kamala Harris, a race-baiting potshot that dredges up ingrained prejudices against biracial Americans that stretch back to the antebellum South.

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Those potshots elicited a heavy eye roll from Riley’s new quarterback, Miller Moss.

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Trump’s team was more meandering and given to stray potshots, missing more than they hit.

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“But the editorializing — the excessive, unnecessary commentary about an uncharged individual — felt like political potshots.”

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That gun became a symbol of the attack when he was captured on video with it, roaming the balustrade of the Arts Faculty and taking potshots at passers-by, injuring several.

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