🇪🇸Spanish Source WordCode: ES

ametralladora

Pronunciation / Transliteration: ametɾaʎaˈdoɾa

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Machine gun/məˈʃiːn ɡʌn/
nounverbCEFR B2 (Upper)Top #8500 frequency
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🇪🇸 Example Sentence in Spanish:

"El pelotón avanzó bajo el fuego de la ametralladora."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    An automatic firearm designed to fire bullets in rapid succession continuously as long as the trigger is pressed.

    "The defensive position was fortified with a heavy machine-gun."
As verb
  1. 1

    To shoot someone or something with a machine-gun.

    "Enemy aircraft tried to machine-gun the retreating column."

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Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Coined in the late 19th century, the term combines 'machine' (from Latin machina, meaning a contrivance or engine) and 'gun' (derived from Middle English gonne, historically a short form of a woman's name used for early medieval catapults). It emerged alongside the development of fully automatic firearms such as the Gatling gun and Maxim gun to describe a mechanical apparatus capable of sustained rapid firing.

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