Meaning & use
rifle
Last updated
A firearm with a long barrel and spiral grooves inside, designed to be fired from the shoulder.
See it in a sentence
The hunter cleaned his rifle carefully before heading out at dawn.
Thieves rifled through the drawers, searching for anything valuable.
A note on using this word
As a verb, rifle means to search hastily and thoroughly through something, often to steal from it, a very different sense from the firearm noun.
Words with a similar meaning
gunfirearm
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Another way to use it
2. verb
To search through something hurriedly and often illicitly, typically in order to steal something.
Someone had rifled through her bag while she wasn't looking.
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