rifle
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A firearm fired from the shoulder.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ryfuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɹaɪfəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
weaponry
A firearm fired from the shoulder; improved range and accuracy is provided by a long, rifled barrel.
“He lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired.”
weaponry
An artillery piece with a rifled barrel.
A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes.
verb
Go through in search of something; search through someone's belongings in an unauthorized way
“Who rifled through my desk drawers?”
intransitive
To quickly search through many items (such as papers, the contents of a drawer, a pile of clothing).
Steal goods; take as spoils
transitive
To search with intent to steal.
transitive
To strip of goods; to rob; to pillage.
transitive
To cause (a projectile, as a rifle bullet) to travel in a flat ballistic trajectory.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- General and technical use
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (weaponry) A firearm fired from the shoulder; improved range and accuracy is provided by a long, rifled barrel.
Used this way, rifle is a common word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
“He lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired.”
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- Careful and exacting
- Usage feel
- Precise and approving
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
It most often appears in the pattern “rifle to …”, which is worth copying when you use it.
Natural pattern: rifle to …
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Firearm / artillerynoun
“He lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired.”
Through / quicklyverb
“Who rifled through my desk drawers?”
More ways to use rifle
- “He lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired.”noun
- “Who rifled through my desk drawers?”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The distance that a rifle bullet will carry.
The distance that a rifle bullet will carry.
A grenade that is thrown from a launching device attached to the barrel of a rifle.
The butt end of a rifle.
A bullet designed to be fired from a rifle.
A portable .30 caliber automatic rifle operated by gas pressure and fed by cartridges from a magazine.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.