shot heard round the world

phrase

The opening volleys of the Battles of Lexington and Concord during the American Revolution.

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Meanings

phrase

alternative shot heard 'round the world

  1. The opening volleys of the Battles of Lexington and Concord during the American Revolution.
  2. The shooting of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie on 28 June 1914 that was the casus belli of the Great War.
  3. A 1951 home run by Bobby Thomson of the New York Giants
  4. idiomaticAny cataclysmic event

Origin

From the 1837 poem Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese 萊克星頓的槍聲 /莱克星顿的枪声
  • 萊克星頓的槍聲 /莱克星顿的枪声opening volleys of the Battles of Lexington and Concord
Cite this entry
APA

shot heard round the world. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shot%20heard%20round%20the%20world

MLA

“shot heard round the world.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shot%20heard%20round%20the%20world. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shot heard round the world,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shot%20heard%20round%20the%20world.

Source: shot heard round the world on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.