musket

noun

Definition of musketnext
as in flintlock
a type of long gun that was used by soldiers before the invention of the rifle

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of musket The new United States needed muskets, cannons, ammunition, uniforms, cloth, food and credit. — R. Grant Gilmore Iii, The Conversation, 30 June 2026 Or, to put it in terms the Patriots understood, roughly 200,000 musket balls of metal were secreted away. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 June 2026 Independence without muskets and mortars, hurrah! — David Weiss, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026 Read more Today, a memorial to that battle stands near Concord’s Old North Bridge, showing a nameless minuteman dropping his plow and picking up a musket. — Vivian Yee, New York Times, 20 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for musket
Recent Examples of Synonyms for musket
  1. flintlock
  2. shotgun
  3. matchlock
  4. blunderbuss
  5. smoothbore
  6. harquebus
  7. culverin
  8. firearm
Noun
  • Smoke billowed from his flintlock and Rhoades didn’t see where the buck ran after the shot.
    — Bob McNally, Outdoor Life, 28 Jan. 2026
  • Modern gun technologies are far, far more deadly than the one-shot flintlocks of the 18th century—shouldn’t that matter?
    — Robert J. Spitzer, Time, 6 June 2023
Definition of flintlock
Noun
  • The autopsy determined that Wiley's cause of death was a shotgun wound to the torso, according to Crump.
    — Thao Nguyen, USA Today, 2 July 2026
  • In a photo from a court document, a 12-gauge shotgun is shown inside a Rocky Ford residence inhabited by Mario Rocha.
    — Logan Smith, CBS News, 30 June 2026
Definition of shotgun
Noun
  • The Ottomans deployed field artillery and Janissary infantry armed with matchlocks in a defensive formation called tabur jangi, in which carts and wagons were used to build barricades on the battlefield.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2026
  • The birth of ‘gunpowder warfare’ can be traced back to the 15th century and the invention of the matchlock gun, the first mechanical firing device.
    — Kamal Ahmed, Fortune, 12 Mar. 2026
Definition of matchlock
Noun
  • Trump would also stop treating the Europeans as enemies with his blunderbuss tariffs.
    — Trudy Rubin, Mercury News, 15 Aug. 2025
  • Cost cutting ‘blunderbuss’ DOGE is part of a long line of presidential efforts to take an ax to the administrative state.
    — Zac Anderson, USA TODAY, 11 Feb. 2025
Definition of blunderbuss
Noun
  • Both tanks mount 120-125 mm smoothbore cannons capable of engaging armored vehicles at long range.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 30 June 2026
  • At least three states — Hawaii, Ohio and North Dakota — treat a smoothbore musket the same as an AK-47 or AR-15.
    — Allen G. Breed, Los Angeles Times, 14 May 2026
Definition of smoothbore
Noun
  • To put that in perspective, when Beretta started making arquebus barrels, Michelangelo was still working in Rome.
    — Big Think, Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026
Definition of harquebus
Noun
  • Researchers recently found medieval cannonballs from culverins, an early form of cannon, that were most likely used by Vlad the Impaler, during his bloody battle in 1461 with the Ottoman Turks.
    — Fox News, Fox News, 5 Aug. 2019
Definition of culverin
Noun
  • He has been charged with first-degree murder and felony firearm.
    — Christina Coulter, PEOPLE, 4 July 2026
  • Law enforcement later searched two locations in connection with the investigation into Hidrogo including a storage facility in Fort Worth where officers found 244 kilograms of meth with a purity level of 100 percent and more firearms.
    — Fousia Abdullahi, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4 July 2026
Definition of firearm

Browse Nearby Words

muskegs
musket
musketeer
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Cite this Entry

“Musket.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/musket. Accessed 8 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on musket

Nglish: Translation of musket for Spanish Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about musket

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