How to Use black powder in a Sentence

black powder

noun
  • Weapons were loaded with black powder.
    — Caity Weaver, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2025
  • This Venice home takes its moody themes to the next level in the all-black powder room.
    — Nena Farrell, Sunset Magazine, 2 July 2020
  • The airbag had exploded and deployed black powder that hung in the air.
    — Ariana Giorgi, Dallas News, 21 Feb. 2020
  • Photos from the scene show what appears to be a pipe with a bag of black powder removed from it.
    — oregonlive, 19 Aug. 2020
  • Mothers apply the black powder to their newborns to deflect nazar, or the evil eye.
    — Mehrunnisa Wani, Forbes, 14 Apr. 2021
  • The top rail will help keep your cargo in place, and the black powder coat prevents corrosion.
    — Collin Morgan, Car and Driver, 28 June 2022
  • The planes also dropped 20 smaller bombs that only had black powder charge.
    — Audrey McAvoy, Anchorage Daily News, 1 Dec. 2022
  • It was filled halfway with black powder and detonated using a time fuse.
    — Aaron Katersky, ABC News, 7 Mar. 2023
  • Even the most elaborate fireworks show starts with a single crack, as black powder shoots shell from mortar.
    — Popular Science, 10 Feb. 2020
  • And in some places, black powder guns are also one of the few ways a person with a felony conviction can purchase a firearm.
    — NBC News, 22 May 2021
  • Percussion caps carry a small amount of gunpowder and are used to ignite the charge on black powder guns.
    — Los Angeles Times, 28 Jan. 2022
  • Each shell is crafted by hand, filled with black powder, wrapped tightly in brown paper and twine, then packed into mortars.
    — Jeff Suess, The Enquirer, 30 Aug. 2020
  • But about halfway through the clip, the record scratched and Cox appeared on screen with black powder covering the tip of her nose.
    — Hanna Flanagan, PEOPLE.com, 18 Aug. 2021
  • But the shade Not Your Basic Witch is a straight-up black powder pigment.
    — Marci Robin, Allure, 5 Oct. 2018
  • Storing volatile black powder in populous New York City had grown too risky.
    — Julie Besonen, New York Times, 29 Aug. 2017
  • Only one detonated -- a foot-long pipe that contained black powder, a battery, wiring, nails and screws.
    — Chris Boyette, CNN, 12 Dec. 2017
  • An affidavit says the men broke a window to the imam’s office and threw a pipe bomb containing black powder into the mosque.
    — Washington Post, 14 Mar. 2018
  • Stuffing brass with large-diameter bullets and lots of black powder was the go-to strategy.
    — John B. Snow, Field & Stream, 8 Mar. 2021
  • Jones believes the shell recovered by the Cobb bomb squad used a paper time fuse to ignite the black powder inside.
    — Henri Hollis, ajc, 4 Mar. 2022
  • Rather than use platinum, the team used a catalyst of cobalt phosphide nanoparticles placed on carbon to form a fine black powder.
    — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, 24 Oct. 2019
  • The remaining cathode material is dried and ground into a fine black powder.
    — Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 2 July 2026
  • According to authorities, at least one of the packages did contain black powder.
    — Martin Weil and Matt Zapotosky, BostonGlobe.com, 27 Mar. 2018
  • It's made from sturdy steel with a black powder coat finish that can lend itself to a number of different backyard aesthetics.
    — Clara McMahon, Peoplemag, 13 May 2023
  • Off the hallway, Stiegler created a dramatic black powder room and a galley laundry room.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2022
  • The explosion ignited a huge store of TNT black powder that was used for the ship's battery guns.
    — Vanessa Romo, NPR, 3 Apr. 2024
  • Perhaps the region’s most prominent cosmetic was eyeliner, which was made of a black powder called sormeh and worn by both women and men.
    — Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Feb. 2024
  • What emerges is plastics, copper, and aluminum, and a black powder that is 40 percent graphite and lesser amounts of lithium, nickel, and cobalt.
    — Emma Marris, The Atlantic, 13 July 2022
  • According to this drawing, the Hunley’s charge contained 135 pounds of black powder.
    — Rachel Lance, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Mar. 2020
  • The next night, Weathermen placed plastic coffee cups filled with black powder under the hoods of police squad cars across Chicago.
    — Zayd Ayers Dohrn, New Yorker, 28 Mar. 2026
  • Some of the components used by the suspect to create the pipe bombs include galvanized pipes, end caps, kitchen timers, wires, metal clips and homemade black powder.
    — Peter Aitken, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'black powder.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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