Word.ws English Dictionary

one-shot

one-shot adjective: needing only a single attempt to become effective. Also the alternative form of oneshot.

Adjective

one-shot (not comparable)

  1. Needing only a single attempt to become effective.
    • A one-shot solution to financial problems
  2. Unique; occurring only once.
    • The most effective way to adapt to changing circumstances would be to enter into one-shot deals that would leave the party the freedom to enter into subsequent transactions or not, depending on the then-current circumstances.2012, Dennis C. Mueller, The Oxford Handbook of Capitalism, →ISBN
    • Given the particular payoffs in Prisoner's Dilemma games, it is always rational to defect on the other player as long as the game is one-shot and not repeated infinitely. Regardless of what the other player does, you get a higher payoff by defecting than cooperating. In one-shot games, there is...2012, Satoshi Kanazawa, The Intelligence Paradox, →ISBN
  3. Performing all the necessary steps on every occurrence, rather than relying on previous setup.
    • Whether a window is one-shot or not makes little difference from the perspective of the programmer. A one-shot window costs more to make visible but uses less memory when it is not being displayed.2009, David Chisnall, Cocoa Programming Developer's Handbook, →ISBN
    • Programming experts, on the other hand, might benefit from knowing that blocks are closures, which are one-shot anonymous functions with data attached.2010, Michael Hartl, Ruby on Rails 2.3 Tutorial: Learn Rails by Example, →ISBN, page 12-159
  4. (research design) Measuring something at a single point in time, with no control group.
    • Analysts typically conduct one-shot case studies on unique events of history.2010, Dipak K. Gupta, Analyzing Public Policy: Concepts, Tools, and Techniques, →ISBN
    • The simplest of all pre-experimental group research designs is the one-shot case study, also known as the cross-sectional study. The one-shot case study is appropriate for answering exploratory and descriptive research questions related to what exists at a certain point in time.2013, Judy L. Krysik, Jerry Finn, Research for Effective Social Work Practice, →ISBN
  5. Involving a single gunshot.
    • Now the best shooters in the world fired the best rifle in the world, one-shot/one-kill out to one thousand meters.2008, Anthony Swofford, Jarhead: A Soldier's Story of Modern War, →ISBN
    • The kills had been one-shot and these enemy, whoever the hell they were, were dead.2009, Jim Case, Cody's Army: Philippine Hardpunch, →ISBN
  6. Holding 1.5 ounces.
    • Here it was sucked from tiny one-shot bottles wrapped in coarse paper, taken between drafts of good East German beer.1992, T. Davis Bunn, The Amber Room, →ISBN
    • Rodeo struggled up through layers of sleep and saw a jumble of beer cans and one-shot liquor bottles, cold pizza, ripped stockings and underwear and a hash pipe.2014, C. B. McKenzie, Bad Country: A Novel, →ISBN
  7. Involving a single act of launching a ball.
    • Ask anyone — golf writers, designers, players —and they all agree the coolest thing about the one-shot hole is — you can complete it in one shot.2011, Michael Bartlett, Tony Roberts, Pete and Alice Dye, Golf's Finest Par Threes: The Art and Science of the One-Shot Hole, →ISBN
    • And the real true measure of that was when I got to eighteen, and I had a one-shot lead at the time, and I hit a perfect tee shot—this is the last day, the fondest day, Sunday.2014, Bob McCullough, My Greatest Day in Golf, →ISBN

Noun

one-shot (plural one-shots)

  1. A television program, film, or comic book that is not part of a series.
    • And with the added bonuses of color and videotape coupled with the disadvantages of higher production costs, a lot of syndie producers forsook weekly series in favor of one-shot specials — and it didn't take long for the airwaves to become thick with one-shots.2001, Hal Erickson, Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years, 1947-1987, →ISBN, page 106
    • The Mummy belongs in a chapter devoted to one-shots as its progeny are different breeds rather than direct sequels.2013, B. Forshaw, British Gothic Cinema, →ISBN
  2. A cinematographic shot of a person talking to camera; a talking head.
    • The smaller frame means that Hill uses a lot of tight one-shots, mixed in with more expressive images like an endless sea of skaters fleeing from cops or a slow push-in on Stevie and Ian having an uncomfortable conversation while playing video games on their couch.15 October 2018, Jesse Hassenger, AV Club Jonah Hill makes his auspicious if uneven filmmaking debut with a Mid90s nostalgia...
  3. A monostable multivibrator.
    • The monostable multivibrator, or one-shot, is designed to generate controllable-duration pulses when triggered by the rising or falling edge of a trigger clock.1980, Bruce A. Artwick, Microcomputer interfacing, page 263
  4. A programmable interval timer.
    • After peak detection, the processed pulses operate a one-shot circuit which gives a fixed pulse width of 230 ms.1987, R.S. Khandpur, Handbook of Biomedical Instrumentation, →ISBN
    • The time constants that control one-shot pulse widths can be lengthened or shortened by adding capacitors or resistors in the test fixture.2012, John Turino, Design to Test, →ISBN
  5. Something that occurs only once; a one-off.
    • Some ideas are one-shots.1960, Research/development - Volume 11, page 87
    • “His main fiscal policy is that of a tax cutter," says Horton, “and he has financed that policy in effect by relying tremendously on one-shots”—revenues that will not recur and are used to patch up a given year's gap.1996, New York - Volume 29, Issues 43-46, page 48
  6. A music sample that is played without immediate repetition.
    • Loops automatically conform to a project's tempo; one-shots ignore the tempo and maintain a fixed duration. One-shots are files, such as a percussion hit or a sound effect, that are not intended to be looped.2010, Mary Plummer, Apple Training Series: GarageBand 09, →ISBN
    • Loops contain rhythmic patterns that sound designers can extend to fill any amount of time, while one-shots contain sound effects and other non-repeating sounds.2016, Dave Collins, The Act of Musical Composition: Studies in the Creative Process, →ISBN
  7. (slang) A fanfic of only one chapter.
  8. A single appearance by a performer.
    • Imagine, then, all those disciplined, hard-working, up-and-coming actors, desperately eager to land a consistent job in a nighttime series or daytime soap, but grateful for one-shots, under-five-liners (minimum pay), or even walk-ons.2014, Robin Morgan, Saturday's Child: A Memoir, →ISBN
  9. A gun that must be reloaded after firing a single shot.
    • He also knew where Bell hid his derringer, knew it was in his sleeve instead of his belt or his boot. And he had spotted the tiny one-shot in his coat pocket, which no one ever noticed.2013, Clive Cussler, Justin Scott, The Striker, →ISBN
  10. A product that is sold on its own, rather than as part of a line of products.
    • The inexpensive one-shots still make up a minuscule part of the market, but they are getting attention.1991, The Discount Merchandiser - Volume 31, Issues 7-12, page 127
    • The one-shot is a perennial mail order vehicle, so called because you market just one item instead of an entire line, and you therefore have one shot in which to sell it.2008, Entrepreneur Press, Start Your Own Mail Order Business, →ISBN
  11. A player that can be killed in a single hit.

Also used as

one-shot is also the alternative form of oneshot.

Examples of one-shot in a sentence

  • Given the particular payoffs in Prisoner's Dilemma games, it is always rational to defect on the other player as long as the game is one-shot and not repeated infinitely.2012, Satoshi Kanazawa, The Intelligence Paradox, →ISBN:
  • One-shot volunteering projects are also common, though possibly somewhat less so than hobbyist-like projects.2015, Robert A. Stebbins, Serious Leisure: A Perspective for Our Time, →ISBN:
  • The most widely supported AF mode is one-shot focusing, which is best for still subjects.2013, Margaret Brown, Digital SLR Pocket Guide 3rd Edition, →ISBN:
  • An improvement on the one-shot survey is the single group, pretest-posttest design.2013, Robert G. Bringle, Julie A. Hatcher, Patti H. Clayton, Research on Service Learning: Conceptual Frameworks and Assessments, →ISBN:

Forms of one-shot

Adjective
alternative formoneshot
Noun
pluralone-shots
Verb
third-person singular presentone-shots
present participleone-shotting
past participleone-shotted
pastone-shotted
past participleone-shot
pastone-shot

Phrases with one-shot

Questions about one-shot

What does one-shot mean?
One-shot means needing only a single attempt to become effective.
How do you use one-shot in a sentence?
Given the particular payoffs in Prisoner's Dilemma games, it is always rational to defect on the other player as long as the game is one-shot and not repeated infinitely.
What part of speech is one-shot?
One-shot can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near one-shot in the dictionary

  1. one-reeler
  2. one-reelers
  3. one-seed juniper
  4. one-seed junipers
  5. one-seventh
  6. one-shot
  7. one-shot learning
  8. one-shots
  9. one-shotted
  10. one-shotting
  11. one-sided

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: one-shot (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-one-shot.wav.

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