gunman

gunman — noun

1. a man who carries or uses a gun, especially in a crime or violent attack

1.nounB2
Definition

a man who carries or uses a gun, especially in a crime or violent attack

Example

The suspected gunman, Adisa, was taken into custody after a brief standoff with police.

article usage: the suspected gunman

Witnesses described the gunman as a tall man wearing a dark coat and sunglasses.

witness testimony: described + as + physical description

Common collocations
  • suspected gunman
  • masked gunman
  • lone gunman
  • gunman opened fire
Synonyms
  • shooter

    more informal; very common in news headlines and casual reporting

  • armed man

    less specific — does not necessarily imply criminal intent

  • assailant

    more formal; focuses on the act of attacking rather than the weapon used

Usage Note

Frequently appears in news reports and crime coverage. The word carries an implication of criminal intent — do not use for police officers, military personnel, or security guards who carry guns as part of their duty.

Common Mistakes

The police gunman arrested the robber.
The armed officer arrested the robber.
gunman refers to a criminal, not a law enforcement officer carrying a firearm.

Word family

  • gunmen
    nounB2
  • gunwoman
    nounC2
  • gun
    nounA2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Gunman is the standard neutral term used in news reporting for a person who uses a gun to commit a crime. Shooter is more informal and interchangeable in headlines but can also refer to someone firing a gun in a sports context (e.g., 'a trained shooter'). Gunfighter is a dated term associated with the American Old West, carrying a sense of skill and a duel-like context — it would sound odd applied to a modern bank robber. Use gunman for formal reporting, shooter for casual news or sports contexts, and gunfighter only in historical or Western-themed writing.

gunman ↗shootergunfighter

Etymology

English

The word 'gunman' is a compound of 'gun' (a weapon that fires bullets, from Old English 'gunne', possibly short for the woman's name 'Gunhild', which was used as a name for a cannon) and 'man' (from Old English 'mann'). First recorded in English in the 1600s to refer to a soldier armed with a gun, it later shifted in meaning to refer mainly to a criminal using a firearm.