Shootout

How to spell shootout

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce shootout

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does shootout mean?

1. nounA decisive exchange of gunfire between opposing sides, usually fought until one side is beaten.
2. nounA method of deciding a tied match in which players take turns attempting scoring shots.

Shootout in a sentence

• The bank robbery ended in a violent shootout with police.

• The final was settled by a penalty shootout after extra time.

• The old western film climaxes with a shootout on the dusty main street.

• The goalkeeper saved three attempts during the dramatic shootout.

Where does shootout come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a modern English compound built from the native verb 'shoot' and the particle 'out'. 'Shoot' descends from the Old English sceotan, meaning 'to send swiftly, to discharge a missile', a thoroughly Germanic word with cousins across the northern European languages. The particle 'out' likewise comes from Old English ut, meaning simply 'away, forth'. Joined together as a noun, 'shootout' is an Americanism that became common in the early twentieth century, first describing a decisive gun battle in which opponents fire until one side is finished. From there it spread by analogy into sport, where a 'penalty shootout' settles a tied match, and into business and politics as a vivid figure for any final, winner-takes-all contest. The spelling is straightforward once you remember it is a single closed-up word, not 'shoot out' or 'shoot-out'.

How the word is built

• shoot (to fire a weapon)
• out (adverb particle); a noun formed from the phrasal verb 'shoot out'