How to Use potshot in a Sentence

potshot

noun
  • A sniper was on the roof taking potshots at passing cars.
  • Heindorff, on the other hand, took no such potshots thus far.
    — Nathan Mattise, Ars Technica, 6 Oct. 2018
  • As for Nixon’s potshot, Buchwald was not the least perturbed.
    — Eric Weiner, Washington Post, 9 Sep. 2022
  • Ardi has been hit with one potshot after another since she was unveiled to the world.
    — Jill Neimark, Discover Magazine, 28 July 2011
  • Taking a potshot is a 90-day misdemeanor, plus fines.
    — Neal Rubin, Freep.com, 6 June 2024
  • Plenty of popcorn-grabbing moments over the past few days as our tech overlords took potshots at each other.
    — Lara O’Reilly, WSJ, 3 Apr. 2018
  • Iranian potshots at those vessels failed.
    — Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 11 May 2026
  • The Sanders Institute will not be taking any potshots at people.
    — David Weigel, Washington Post, 7 June 2017
  • James wasn’t shy with his irritation when LaVar Ball took potshots at him last season.
    — Nancy Armour, USA TODAY, 5 July 2018
  • In 1993, a jokester did the same thing, although there was no Cash silhouette to take a potshot at back then.
    — Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, 19 May 2022
  • Koepka’s potshot at Johnson broke every gentleman’s rule in golf.
    — Scott Ostler, SFChronicle.com, 9 Aug. 2020
  • Daniels enjoys taking potshots at people who insult her on Twitter — and, of course, at the president.
    — Anna North, Vox, 18 Oct. 2018
  • Carlson has taken potshots at the Black Lives Matter movement.
    — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 26 Apr. 2023
  • Governments quickly lined up to take potshots at the commission’s proposal.
    — The Economist, 5 May 2018
  • As the prominence of fracking attests, the critics of alternative energies are lobbing potshots from quite the glass house.
    — John Tamny, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026
  • Frustration will set in, and it will be augmented by Peterson and Hood’s ruthless potshots.
    — Andy Benoit, SI.com, 19 July 2017
  • Jon Voight's Christmas card list thanks to an endorsement of Joe Biden that included a potshot at his costar.
    — Clark Collis, EW.com, 3 Nov. 2020
  • Half the people who took potshots at him are probably secretly (or in some cases not so secretly) pulling for Russia anyway.
    — Michael Tomasky, The New Republic, 27 Feb. 2023
  • Over the past few months, Nightmare Eclipse has taken multiple potshots at Microsoft.
    — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 9 June 2026
  • What remains unclear is why the British media took prosecco potshots at this particular moment.
    — Elisabetta Povoledo, The Seattle Times, 2 Sep. 2017
  • Could the loss — and their coach’s words — be enough motivation for Colorado players previously powered by potshots?
    — Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2023
  • But there’s also a deep rabbit hole of older Orson depictions out there, most delivered in playful, potshot fashion.
    — Chris Vognar, Los Angeles Times, 6 Jan. 2021
  • The tone throughout is fun to read, especially when the book takes potshots at gentrification, prison food and Sammy Sosa.
    — SFChronicle.com, 21 June 2019
  • After someone in the other party fires a potshot that grazes the head of one of Rex’s fiends, another buddy returns fire and kills the original shooter.
    — Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 26 Nov. 2025
  • While Hucker was onstage, the governor began taking potshots on Twitter.
    — John Kelly, Washington Post, 14 Mar. 2023
  • Warren has been steadily gaining on Sanders in polls over the last several months, but the rivals — who describe themselves as friends — have not taken potshots at each other.
    — Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2019
  • Payton wasn’t aiming another potshot at his predecessor, however, just expressing his disdain for players who don the hats on the sideline after their day is done.
    — The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Aug. 2023
  • People were taking potshots at her dating history, so Swift decided to deliver the cleverest takedown herself.
    — Jason Lipshutz, Billboard, 24 Aug. 2017
  • The real facts are that Robert Isom is leading American to new heights despite the potshots of misinformed critics and those with their own motivations.
    — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 16 Feb. 2026
  • If the shooter has a serious health condition then is taking potshots at the GOP house leadership considered self defense?
    — Ian Prasad Philbrick, Slate Magazine, 22 June 2017

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