as in flintlocks
a type of long gun that was used by soldiers before the invention of the rifle
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Recent Examples of muskets
Then the French started to standardize their muskets.
—
The New Yorker, New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2026
When tension broke, one side was equipped with steel swords, muskets, and gunpowder.
—Literary Hub, 28 Jan. 2026
The printing press, clocks, muskets — all these inventions changed humankind forever.
—Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2026
Audiences are immersed in the horrors of the war, which was fought eyeball to eyeball by landless men wielding muskets, unreliable rifles and terrifying bayonets.
—Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 16 Nov. 2025
Some boys with muskets, circa Ye Olde America?
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 14 Nov. 2025
There is also pretty but not always energetic imagery filmed in different referenced parts of the current American wilderness — snow gathering in fields, mist rising above mountaintops — and never-energetic shots of re-enactors loading muskets or preparing for battle.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 6 Nov. 2025
Here, in the middle of British New York, and before that Dutch New Amsterdam, is where muskets were fired and the empire had its very last outpost in 1783, after the war ended.
—Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 23 Oct. 2025
Some of them waged it, encamping with the armies, cooking, cleaning, and nursing, and, in a few exceptional cases, grabbing muskets themselves.
—Jane Kamensky, The Atlantic, 10 Oct. 2025
The New Yorker, New Yorker, 4 Feb. 2026
When tension broke, one side was equipped with steel swords, muskets, and gunpowder.
—Literary Hub, 28 Jan. 2026
The printing press, clocks, muskets — all these inventions changed humankind forever.
—Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 6 Jan. 2026
Audiences are immersed in the horrors of the war, which was fought eyeball to eyeball by landless men wielding muskets, unreliable rifles and terrifying bayonets.
—Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 16 Nov. 2025
Some boys with muskets, circa Ye Olde America?
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 14 Nov. 2025
There is also pretty but not always energetic imagery filmed in different referenced parts of the current American wilderness — snow gathering in fields, mist rising above mountaintops — and never-energetic shots of re-enactors loading muskets or preparing for battle.
—Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 6 Nov. 2025
Here, in the middle of British New York, and before that Dutch New Amsterdam, is where muskets were fired and the empire had its very last outpost in 1783, after the war ended.
—Christopher Bonanos, Curbed, 23 Oct. 2025
Some of them waged it, encamping with the armies, cooking, cleaning, and nursing, and, in a few exceptional cases, grabbing muskets themselves.
—Jane Kamensky, The Atlantic, 10 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for muskets
Noun
-
Current owners can keep their firearms and sell them to dealers.—
Cindy Camp,
Baltimore Sun,
8 Feb. 2026
-
Senate Bill 4 would build off Colorado’s 2019 extreme risk protection orders law, which allows family members, law enforcement, health care professionals and educators to petition the courts to require people to surrender their firearms temporarily.—
The Denver Post,
Denver Post,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
The company also argues that accidental firings happen with all manufacturers’ pistols.—
Romy Ellenbogen,
Miami Herald,
3 Feb. 2026
-
Sometimes the last thing a bodice-ripper needs is a reminder that the characters onscreen think leeching is a helpful medical treatment or that disagreements can only be handled with dueling pistols.—
CT Jones,
Rolling Stone,
2 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Muskets.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/muskets. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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