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Glite Dictionary
.22 caliber

.22 caliber

5 5.6
A bullet or gun barrel about 0.22 inches wide
  • adjective
  • /ˈtwɛntiˈtwɔː ˈkælɪbər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : calibre .22
  • The young hunter proudly showed off his new .22 caliber rifle at the shooting range.
  • .22 caliber rifle
  • .22 caliber pistol
  • .22 caliber handgun

Examples

  • Or my uncle, as a boy, putting a .22 caliber bullet (blank) into a tree and stepping back about 20 feet and shooting it to see what would happen.

    Blog text (19)

  • This is a .22 caliber round.

    Blog text (4)

  • At the age of 4, my father bought me a bolt-action Winchester .22 caliber rifle that I have carried with me every time I went hunting with him.

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  • Many target shooters prefer using a .22 caliber pistol for its accuracy and low recoil.

  • She practiced her aim with a .22 caliber handgun, which is great for beginners.

Synonyms

.22-caliber
vs.22 caliber
  • Specialized
1 6.5

A gun or bullet with a barrel opening about 0.22 inch wide

has identical meaning but appears without a hyphen in other form

How Big

.45 caliber
  • Specialized
3 7.2
.38 caliber
  • Specialized
3 7.9
.22 caliber
  • Specialized
5 5.6

Surface Forms

.22 caliber positive
.22-caliber positive

Morphology

.22 + caliber

The meaning is directly compositional: '.22' specifies the numeric measurement and 'caliber' denotes bore/bullet diameter, so together they indicate a diameter of 0.22 inches. Although somewhat technical, the number + measurement-noun pattern is transparent and cross-linguistically common, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.

Etymology

.22 Caliber comes from a simple measurement for guns: .22 means the bullet is '0.22 inches' wide and caliber means 'width', so .22 caliber describes a gun or bullet of that size.