How to use shoot in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun, interjection

Shoot means to fire (a weapon that releases a bullet or other projectile). Example: “The man, in a desperate bid for freedom, grabbed his gun and started shooting anyone he could.”

Examples of shoot by meaning

verbTo fire (a weapon that releases a bullet or other projectile).

to shoot a gun

verbTo fire a projectile at (a person or target).

The man, in a desperate bid for freedom, grabbed his gun and started shooting anyone he could.
The hunter shot the deer to harvest its meat.
The unfortunate Divisional Director, responsible for the Emperor's safety, shot himself.1945 September and October, C. Hamilton Ellis, “Royal Trains—V”, in Railway Magazine, page 252

verbTo cause a weapon to discharge a projectile; to use a gun or similar weapon.

They shot at a target.
He shoots better than he rides.
The man, in a desperate bid for freedom, grabbed his gun and started shooting.

verbTo hunt game with a gun; to go hunting for recreation.

They're coming to shoot with us on Sunday.

verbTo hunt on (a piece of land) with a gun; to kill game in or on.

Although the estate had been shot previously, there had been no effective keepering and little success with the pheasants released.1969, Game Conservancy (Great Britain), Annual Review (issues 1-8, page 16)

verbTo function as a weapon that launches a projectile.

The gun shoots well.

verbTo throw dice; to roll.

Then, when it was his turn to shoot, he reached out with a completely empty hand and caught the dice the stickman threw to him.1980, John Scarne, Scarne on Dice, page 275

verbTo ejaculate.

After a very short time, he shot his load over the carpet.

More sentences with shoot

It was ill-advised of Sam to moon the photographer during the shoot.From the entry moon
My wife won't watch this movie; it's a shoot ’em up.From the entry shoot 'em up
Long-range missiles can shoot down any planes before they can even be seen.From the entry long-range
I know you won't like this news, but please don't shoot the messenger.From the entry shoot the messenger
I have to shoot off: my interview starts in under an hour.From the entry shoot off
You're going to tell her what I said about her? You might as well shoot me!From the entry might as well
The antigaming campaigner argued that violent shoot-'em-up games led to killing sprees in real life.From the entry antigaming
Shoot! A tear. And these are my good jeans.From the entry good
He shoots a mean stick of pool.From the entry stick
He shoots from the top of the key.From the entry key
Shoots grow up and roots grow down.From the entry up
He tried to shoot me, so I cacked him.From the entry cack
The LAPD has asked Angelenos not to shoot at the alien spaceship, fearing it might trigger an interstellar war.From the entry Angeleno
The terrorists decided to shoot up a convenience store.From the entry shoot up
He got the drop on them and proceeded to shoot and kill them before they could fire a shot or respond.From the entry get the drop on
Brother’s wifed up – can’t go shoot pool or nothing.From the entry wife up
Removing the shoots on the side of the plant will encourage it to grow upward instead of bushing out.From the entry bush out
We were pinned down by shellfire. If the artillery hadn't run out of shells to shoot at us we would have been wiped out.From the entry shellfire
The shrub was too branchy. It needed to be pruned so it would have a few strong shoots instead of many weak ones.From the entry branchy
The standard-bearer in battle is in the center of the front line so the following troops know where to go; unfortunately, it also shows the enemy where to shoot.From the entry standard-bearer
But one does not simply shoot a lion if it crosses your path.2026 April 21, Cal Flyn, “On the trail with the hunters who believe shooting big game can save Africa’s wildlife”, in The Guardian. From the entry cross someone's path
More than a year on, Norton, 56, still seems buzzing from the shoot.2026 July 3, Catherine Shoard, “‘I feel both thrilled and ruined by this’: Olivia Wilde and Edward Norton on making sex comedy The…. From the entry crease up
A woman holds a large bamboo shoot in Tainan’s Zuojhen District yesterday.2025 June 12, “Big shot”, in Taipei Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 Jun 2025, Taiwan News, page 3. From the entry Zuojhen
Down in Florida, they shoot this category using four pistols and a shotgun.2023 January 19, The Outlaw Travis James, “Cowboy Action Shooting Categories”, in Action Shooting Network. From the entry string
Flames periodically shoot upwards from the robata grill in the open kitchen.2023 September 23, John Thornill, “Let’s break the Silicon Valley monopoly”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial…. From the entry robata
Unexpectedly, even some of the monoliths are throwing out new shoots.2022 March 23, Paul Bigland, “HS2 is just 'passing through'”, in RAIL, number 953, page 44. From the entry monolith
It's already throwing out dozens of new shoots as it's become re-established.2022 March 23, Paul Bigland, “HS2 is just 'passing through'”, in RAIL, number 953, page 44. From the entry monolith
We take out any shoots that are frictious against each other.2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light, Fourth Estate, page 390. From the entry frictious

Meaning of shoot

verb To fire (a weapon that releases a bullet or other projectile).
verb To fire or launch (a projectile).
verb To fire a projectile at (a person or target).

Full definition of shoot

Questions about shoot in a sentence

How do you use shoot in a sentence?: Shoot is used as a verb, noun and interjection. For example: “The man, in a desperate bid for freedom, grabbed his gun and started shooting anyone he could.”
What is a short sentence with shoot?: “The gun shoots well.”
What does shoot mean?: Shoot means to fire (a weapon that releases a bullet or other projectile).

Adapted from Wiktionary: shoot (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use shoot in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/shoot. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.