Word.ws English Dictionary

AR-15

AR-15 noun: a lightweight, semi-automatic rifle, based on the original design of the ArmaLite AR-15.

Noun

AR-15 (plural AR-15s)

  1. (trademark) A lightweight, semi-automatic rifle, based on the original design of the ArmaLite AR-15.
    • Not long after it started selling M-16s to the military, Colt began marketing the semi-automatic AR-15 to civilians.2017 December 14, David Heath, Elise Hansen and AJ Willingham, CNN Design: Joyce Tseng, “How an ‘ugly,’ unwanted weapon became the most popular rifle in America”, in CNN
    • An AR-15 once again made an appearance at a mass shooting, this time at a Parkland, Fla., high school on Wednesday. The suspect in the shooting, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, purchased the semiautomatic rifle about a year ago, according to a law enforcement official.2018 February 16, Julie Vitkovskaya, Patrick Martin, “4 basic questions about the AR-15”, in The Washington Post

Examples of AR-15 in a sentence

  • Should We Be Forced to See Exactly What an AR-15 Does to a 10-Year-Old? [title]2022 May 31, Susie Linfield, “Should We Be Forced to See Exactly What an AR-15 Does to a 10-Year-Old?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
  • And outlawing these AR-15s would not require confiscating them from people who already have them.2022 June 5, Michael Fanone, “Opinion: Here’s the reason people tell me they want to buy an AR-15. And it’s simply ludicrous”, in CNN:

Forms of AR-15

pluralAR-15s

Origin of AR-15

Initialism of ArmaLite Rifle, which was named after the company that originally designed the weapon.

Questions about AR-15

What does AR-15 mean?
AR-15 means a lightweight, semi-automatic rifle, based on the original design of the ArmaLite AR-15.
How do you use AR-15 in a sentence?
Should We Be Forced to See Exactly What an AR-15 Does to a 10-Year-Old? [title]
What part of speech is AR-15?
AR-15 is a noun.
What is the plural of AR-15?
The plural of AR-15 is AR-15s.

Words near AR-15 in the dictionary

  1. AR theory
  2. ar'
  3. ar'n't
  4. Ar(l)
  5. ar-
  6. AR-15
  7. AR-15s
  8. Ar-arusip
  9. ar-Raqqa
  10. Ar-Raqqah
  11. ar.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: AR-15 (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “AR-15.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ar-15. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.