semiautomatic firearm
1
7.2
- noun
- /ˌsɛmiˈɔːtəmætɪk ˈfaɪərɑːm/
- Specialized
:
arma semiautomática
Examples
-
In addition, in most drug-related murders in the United States, the weapon of choice is a large caliber semiautomatic firearm brought to the scene and removed by the offender.
Academic text (2013) -
The police found a semiautomatic firearm during the investigation of the crime scene.
-
He went to the gun store to purchase a semiautomatic firearm for personal protection.
-
After the shooting, the community organized a rally to advocate for stricter regulations on semiautomatic firearms.
Synonyms
2
8.1
A gun that can fire several shots in a row without reloading
1
8.9
A gun part that loads the next round by itself after each shot
A gun that loads a new bullet by itself after each shot
A gun that can fire several shots before reloading
Antonyms
- Specialized
1
5.1
A gun that keeps loading and shooting as long as you hold the trigger
How Automatic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'semiautomatic' (partly/automatically operating) combined with 'firearm' (a gun) yields a gun that automatically chambers rounds but fires one per trigger pull. This follows standard English morphological composition and similar patterns cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Semiautomatic firearm comes from the parts semi meaning 'half' and automatic meaning 'works by itself'. Picture a gun that 'reloads' itself after each shot but only fires one round each time you pull the trigger, and that image explains the modern meaning.