active shooter
noun
plural active shooters
: a person who is illegally using a firearm to kill or try to kill people especially in a public place : a person who is shooting at people
Stunned shoppers and mall employees initially mistook the sound of glass breaking for gunshots, leading to false rumors of an active shooter.—
Caitlin Antonios
Caitlin Antoniosactive shooter drills
Examples of active shooter in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
While survivors try to run away from an active shooter, the police, firefighters and paramedics rush into the danger zone.
—Arash Javanbakht, The Conversation, 15 Sep. 2025
The alerts came a day after Charlie Kirk was killed in a campus shooting in Utah — and amid a wave of active shooter hoaxes nationwide.
—Alexandra Banner, CNN Money, 12 Sep. 2025
Several schools across the country were targeted with false active shooter reports in August and more than two dozen HBCUs were targeted by bomb threats in 2022, prompting a federal hate crime and violent extremism investigation.
—N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA Today, 12 Sep. 2025
There is no active shooter threat, however one person was injured while Naval Security Forces were clearing a building.
—Peter Aitken, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for active shooter
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Arash Javanbakht, The Conversation, 15 Sep. 2025
The alerts came a day after Charlie Kirk was killed in a campus shooting in Utah — and amid a wave of active shooter hoaxes nationwide.
—Alexandra Banner, CNN Money, 12 Sep. 2025
Several schools across the country were targeted with false active shooter reports in August and more than two dozen HBCUs were targeted by bomb threats in 2022, prompting a federal hate crime and violent extremism investigation.
—N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA Today, 12 Sep. 2025
There is no active shooter threat, however one person was injured while Naval Security Forces were clearing a building.
—Peter Aitken, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for active shooter
Cite this Entry
“Active shooter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/active%20shooter. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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