Meanings
plural hired guns
- A person who is employed as an armed guard, enforcer, or mercenary and who is prepared to use gunplay or similar violent methods in order to assert the interests of their employer.
The hired guns, who protect diplomats, dignitaries and businesspeople, tear through the streets of the capital in convoys of armored SUVs.
2008 December 9, Rania Abouzeid, “Iraqis Welcome Blackwater Indictments”, in TimeSynonyms: gunfighter
- broadlyidiomaticA person who is employed to advance the interests of their employer, especially in a vigorous manner using such methods as political lobbying, legal advocacy, or persuasion.
[O]ne of Gore's senior advisers, top-tier lobbyist Peter Knight, is a hired gun for pharmaceuticals giant Schering-Plough.
1999 November 22, Viveca Novak, “The Claritin Case”, in Time
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA person who is employed as an armed guard, enforcer, or mercenary and who is prepared to use gunplay or similar violent methods in order to assert the interests of their employer.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna professional killer who uses a gun
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
hired gun. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hired%20gun
“hired gun.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hired%20gun. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hired gun,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hired%20gun.
Source: hired gun on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.