How to Use gunship in a Sentence

gunship

noun
  • In fact, there were gunships headed in, ready to hose it down.
    — Matthew M. Burke, Newsweek, 24 Jan. 2017
  • The gunship crew heard panic on the other line and got to work.
    — Brett Murphy, USA Today, 30 Dec. 2019
  • The gunship fired, and villagers began falling right and left.
    — Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2021
  • The other was a gunship ready to take anybody who tried to approach the embassy under fire.
    — CBS News, 23 Apr. 2023
  • In response, Afghan helicopter gunships bombed the house from which the rockets were believed to have been launched.
    — Fox News, 21 Aug. 2018
  • The airstrikes were carried out by drones, AC-130 gunships and fighter-bombers.
    — Robert Windrem, NBC News, 1 Feb. 2018
  • Apache helicopter gunships were called in to repel the attackers, said the officials.
    — Washington Post, 15 Oct. 2017
  • Its narrow fuselage and tandem cockpit became the template for future gunships.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 8 June 2026
  • Mi-24 helicopter gunships are also used for this role, shooting down the drones with the 23mm cannon.
    — David Hambling, Forbes, 12 Sep. 2024
  • Transport choppers hauled troops to battle while heavy-lift helicopters delivered their artillery and gunships cleared the path.
    — Tom Roeder, The Denver Post, 5 May 2017
  • Abdul Rahman, a farmer, was rooting through the refuse with his young son when an Afghan Army gunship appeared on the horizon.
    — Anand Gopal, The New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2021
  • Warren flew a Huey attack helicopter, or gunship, with the call sign Mustang 53.
    — Joe Marusak, Charlotte Observer, 13 Aug. 2025
  • Because Jod had secured his frigate safe passage through the Great Barrier, the kids were chased by laser-firing gunships.
    — Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 14 Jan. 2025
  • And on its high-speed setting, the rear ventilation blower, mounted on the headliner just aft of the front seats, sounds like a Huey gunship on takeoff.
    — John Phillips, Car and Driver, 28 Nov. 2022
  • The United States military made a show of force in response to the turmoil, with helicopter gunships circling overhead.
    — Falih Hassan, New York Times, 31 Dec. 2019
  • Al-Mayadeen said the airstrike occurred after the Popular Forces hit a Turkish helicopter gunship.
    — Washington Post, 2 Mar. 2018
  • During the Vietnam War, he was assigned to a gunship and participated in more than 200 missions, most of them at night.
    — Matt Schudel, Washington Post, 12 Aug. 2017
  • The Americans had total dominance over Iraqi airspace but stood back as Saddam unleashed helicopter gunships on the rebels.
    — Fintan O’Toole, The New York Review of Books, 9 Apr. 2026
  • Since the 1950s, the planes have hauled massive cargo loads to war zones, been converted into gunships and bombers, and been packed with electronics to hunt for hurricanes.
    — Avi Selk, Washington Post, 3 May 2018
  • Ada’s gunship fleet was in LPO, awaiting detection of the advancing Icar- ion fleet, when the asteroid passed within range.
    — Andrew Liptak, The Verge, 11 June 2019
  • The military brought in these helicopter gunships, and soldiers came and started burning the villages and killing people, driving all the Rohingya into the forests and the woods and over the border.
    — Jen Kirby, Daily Intelligencer, 15 Sep. 2017
  • After hours of fighting in the close urban setting, Dockery used smoke grenades to signal enemy positions for American gunships.
    — ABC News, 18 June 2026
  • After hours of fighting in the close urban setting, Dockery used smoke grenades to signal enemy positions for American gunships.
    — Arkansas Online, 20 June 2026
  • The crew of the Apache gunship was rescued on Monday, June 8, after the aircraft went down near the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman.
    — Joey Garrison, USA Today, 10 June 2026
  • But Ahsoka catches him with the Force, and the clone troopers under her and Rex’s command take the red-and-black crime lord prisoner aboard a Republic gunship.
    — Alex Kane, USA TODAY, 24 Apr. 2020
  • The wedding, her first and his second, marked a fresh start for Williams, who was shot down south of Baghdad on the fourth day of the Iraq war along with another Apache gunship pilot and taken prisoner.
    — San Antonio Express-News, 21 Mar. 2018
  • The Americans call in air support from an AC-130 gunship, whose 105-millimeter cannon does its relentless work.
    — Book Marks august 7, Literary Hub, 7 Aug. 2025
  • The New York Times reported that a US Army Apache helicopter gunship went down near the strait on Monday, and that two crew members were rescued.
    — Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 9 June 2026
  • The New York Times reported that a US Army Apache helicopter gunship went down near the strait on Monday, and that two crew members had to be rescued.
    — Todd Symons, CNN Money, 9 June 2026
  • The Marines manning helicopter gunships in the opening verse, like something out of Black Hawk Down or Apocalypse Now, might also be the cops killing George Floyd.
    — Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, 16 Apr. 2026

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