How to Use gunpowder in a Sentence

gunpowder

noun
  • The strong smell of gunpowder hung in the air.
    — Michael Collins, USA Today, 26 Apr. 2026
  • There were wails from inside, and the air smelled of gunpowder.
    — Susannah George, Washington Post, 13 Nov. 2023
  • No one was hit, but Spruill had cuts and gunpowder residue on her hands.
    — Elizabeth Zavala, San Antonio Express-News, 9 Jan. 2018
  • The more gunpowder that is used, the bigger the flash and blast from a prop gun.
    — Lisa Respers France and Sofia Couceiro, CNN, 22 Oct. 2021
  • At least one round burst through the wall, clouding the air with the smell of gunpowder.
    — John Woodrow Cox, Anchorage Daily News, 24 Oct. 2022
  • There was shelling and shooting nearby, and the smell of death and gunpowder hung in the air.
    — Loay Ayyoub, Washington Post, 18 Nov. 2023
  • Boyle, for his part, wondered whether it could be harnessed as a starter for gunpowder.
    — Neima Jahromi, The New Yorker, 27 Dec. 2019
  • When tension broke, one side was equipped with steel swords, muskets, and gunpowder.
    — Literary Hub, 28 Jan. 2026
  • The play is one long fuse quickly sputtering its way to a keg of gunpowder.
    — Robert W. Butler, kansascity, 22 Oct. 2017
  • When a gun trigger is pulled, the primer ignites the gunpowder and fires the bullet.
    — NBC News, 25 Oct. 2021
  • The sound of the gunshot, every muscle in my body tensed, the smell of gunpowder.
    — Gabrielle Union, Glamour, 18 Oct. 2017
  • The streets are damaged and covered with rubble, and the air smells of dust and gunpowder.
    — Ibrahim Dahman, CNN, 8 Oct. 2023
  • In the outdoors, anything from dirt to gunpowder residue can get into your eyes.
    — Richard Mann, Field & Stream, 18 Feb. 2020
  • The smell of gunpowder was in the air, which felt appropriate for her.
    — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 4 Sep. 2025
  • If the cord failed, the gunpowder was meant to ignite and quickly end the suffering.
    — Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 25 Feb. 2022
  • The bullets sit on a small mound of gunpowder which burns when a gun’s firing pin strikes a primer at the base of the casing.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 10 May 2018
  • The smell of gunpowder hung in the air as the fake shooter took down a student actor who emerged from a room nearby.
    — Wilborn P. Nobles Iii, NOLA.com, 20 Apr. 2018
  • The fire started from the trampoline pool, filled with foam rubber, which got lit up as gunpowder.
    — Ivan Nechepurenko, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2018
  • With a dose of peer pressure, Klocke poured in a cup of gunpowder and repeated the process.
    — Cortlynn Stark, kansascity, 2 July 2018
  • The streets reeked of the metallic smell of gunpowder, and the heavy smoke set Wanis coughing.
    — Nicolas Niarchos, New Yorker, 19 May 2025
  • Flowery, with a hint of something harsh, like pepper or gunpowder, it was made in Paris.
    — Town & Country, 10 Jan. 2023
  • There’d be more than one of them, swords would be swinging around with reckless abandon and the smell of gunpowder would be in the air.
    — Curtis Silver, WIRED, 9 Sep. 2009
  • Smelling the gunpowder and seeing the smoke, and seeing the red on the floor and having flesh and body matter in my hair.
    — Celeste Katz, Glamour, 7 Sep. 2018
  • The woman found the 11-year-old boy with a hole in his neck, police say, and smelled what seemed to be gunpowder.
    — Josh Magness, miamiherald, 25 Apr. 2018
  • 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
  • Nearly a half pound of gunpowder was used to blast the pieces, and the explosion was loud enough to set off nearby car alarms.
    — Nhat V. Meyer, Mercury News, 25 May 2026
  • With water, fresh mint, gunpowder green tea, plain yogurt and toasted coconut emerge.
    — Chris Perugini, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
  • Turns out, the moon's odor is reminiscent of gunpowder and some comets give off the pungent aroma of urine.
    — Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 11 Jan. 2024
  • As the shooting progresses, red shell casings pop out of the guns and the salty-sweet aroma of gunpowder fills the air.
    — Bob Shaw, Twin Cities, 30 May 2017
  • The idea was for the gunpowder to blast the colored powder indicating the gender out the top of the stand.
    — Philip Joens, USA TODAY, 29 Oct. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gunpowder.' 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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