shooting

shoot·ing
S1H4O1O1T1I1N1G2
/ˈʃuːtɪŋ/

adjective

Moving or growing quickly

“I often feel a shooting pain in my arm.”

CommonScrabble 12

Meanings

adjective
  1. Moving or growing quickly

    Shooting beams of light played over the sea.

    Synonyms: darting

  2. Of a pain, sudden and darting

    I often feel a shooting pain in my arm.

    Synonyms: splitting

nounshooting (countable and uncountable, plural shootings)

plural shootings

  1. countablean instance of shooting with a gun or other weapon

    Police are hunting the people who carried out the shootings last week.

    2 more examples

    Well, I've always been progun, you know that. It's... yeah, I think adding more guns into a situation is obviously the way to prevent shooting. I think in a way, if we take the guns away, the shootings may escalate. And I think that's why he's so firm on literally arming everyone. I think if you don't have a gun in your hands... well, let's not find out what that world would be.

    2018 February 23, Richard Ayoade, The Last Leg, Season 14, Episode 5

    The Gun Violence Archive[…] defines a mass shooting as one in which at least four people were killed or injured. As of late March, the Gun Violence Archive has counted 130 mass shootings in the United States this year.

    2023 March 28, Daniel Victor, “U.S. Mass Shootings in 2023: A Partial List”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 28 Mar 2023
  2. uncountablethe sport or activity of firing a gun or other weapon

    I take part in shooting at the local archery club.

    1 more example

    Well, I've always been progun, you know that. It's... yeah, I think adding more guns into a situation is obviously the way to prevent shooting. I think in a way, if we take the guns away, the shootings may escalate.

    2018 February 23, Richard Ayoade, The Last Leg, Season 14, Episode 5
  3. countableuncountablea district in which people have the right to kill game with firearms
  4. countableuncountablethe act of one who, or that which, shoots

    the shooting of rays of light

  5. countableuncountablea sensation of darting pain

    a shooting in one's head

  6. countableuncountablebroadcastingfilming
verb
  1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of shoot; forcefully projecting

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveMoving or growing quickly

Similar

adjectiveOf a pain, sudden and darting

Similar

More synonyms by meaning

nounthe act of firing a projectile

Similar
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*skutungō
  2. Old Englishscotung“shooting”
  3. Middle Englishshoting
  4. Englishshooting

From Middle English shoting, schoting, from Old English scotung (“shooting”), from Proto-Germanic *skutungō, equivalent to shoot + -ing. Cognate with Dutch schieting, German Erschießung (“shooting”), Swedish skjutning (“shooting”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic رِمَايَة
  • رِمَايَة (rimāya)the sport or activity of firing a gun or other weapon
Bulgarian стрелба́
  • стрелба́ (strelbá)instance of shooting
Catalan tiroteig, afusellament
  • tiroteiginstance of shooting
  • afusellamentinstance of shooting
Chinese Mandarin 射擊 /射击
  • 射擊 /射击 (shèjī)instance of shooting
Czech střelba
  • střelbainstance of shooting
Danish skudangreb
  • skudangrebinstance of shooting
Dutch schietpartij
  • schietpartijinstance of shooting
Esperanto pafado, pafado
  • pafadoinstance of shooting
  • pafadothe sport or activity of firing a gun or other weapon
Finnish pistävä, terävä
  • pistäväof a pain: sudden and darting
  • teräväof a pain: sudden and darting
  • viiltäväof a pain: sudden and darting
  • ampumineninstance of shooting
  • ammuntathe sport or activity of firing a gun or other weapon
French tir, fusillade
  • tirinstance of shooting
  • fusilladeinstance of shooting
German Schießen, Schießerei
  • Schießeninstance of shooting
  • Schießereiinstance of shooting
Hungarian nyilalló, lövöldözés
  • nyilallóof a pain: sudden and darting
  • lövöldözésinstance of shooting
  • lövésinstance of shooting
  • lövészetthe sport or activity of firing a gun or other weapon
Icelandic skotárás
  • skotárásinstance of shooting
Irish lámhach
  • lámhachinstance of shooting
Italian sparatoria
  • sparatoriainstance of shooting
Japanese 射撃
  • 射撃 (shageki)instance of shooting
Korean 사격, 발포
  • 사격 (sagyeok)instance of shooting
  • 발포 (balpo)instance of shooting
  • 사격 (sagyeok)the sport or activity of firing a gun or other weapon
Māori tākirikiri, puhanga
  • tākirikiriof a pain: sudden and darting
  • puhangainstance of shooting
Norwegian Bokmål skyteangrep, skyting
  • skyteangrepinstance of shooting
  • skytingthe sport or activity of firing a gun or other weapon
Polish strzelanie, palba
  • strzelanieinstance of shooting
  • palbainstance of shooting
Portuguese tiroteio, tiro
  • tiroteioinstance of shooting
  • tirothe sport or activity of firing a gun or other weapon
Russian стрельба́, пальба́
  • стрельба́ (strelʹbá)instance of shooting
  • пальба́ (palʹbá)instance of shooting
  • перестре́лка (perestrélka)instance of shooting
  • шу́тинг (šúting)instance of shooting
  • стрельба́ (strelʹbá)the sport or activity of firing a gun or other weapon
Slovak streľba
  • streľbainstance of shooting
Spanish tiroteo, balacera
  • tiroteoinstance of shooting
  • balacerainstance of shooting
  • baleadurainstance of shooting
  • tirothe sport or activity of firing a gun or other weapon
  • rodajefilming
Swahili upigaji risasi
  • upigaji risasiinstance of shooting
Swedish skjutning, skottlossning
  • skjutninginstance of shooting
  • skottlossninginstance of shooting
Tagalog pamamaril
  • pamamarilinstance of shooting
Ukrainian стрільба́, стріляни́на
  • стрільба́ (strilʹbá)instance of shooting
  • стріляни́на (striljanýna)instance of shooting

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with shooting

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

shooting. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shooting

MLA

“shooting.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shooting. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shooting,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shooting.

Source: shooting on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.