semiautomatic pistol
3
4.7
- noun
- /ˌsɛmiˈɔːtəˌmætɪk ˈpɪstl/
- Specialized
:
pistola semiautomática
- The detective carefully examined the semiautomatic pistol for fingerprints.
- caliber semiautomatic pistol
- 9mm semiautomatic pistol
- .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol
Examples
-
His hand subtly dropped to his semiautomatic pistol and released the thumb snap.
Fiction book (1994) -
After a thorough search, they located a semiautomatic pistol abandoned in the bushes.
-
"You bought a .380 semiautomatic pistol, Lucy."
Fiction book (1994) -
2- "If you understand how rapidly the magazine of a Glock 19 semiautomatic pistol can be emptied" -
Blog text (16) -
If you understand how rapidly the magazine of a Glock 19 semiautomatic pistol can be emptied, you know what I'm talking about.
Blog text (16) -
During the raid, police discovered a semiautomatic pistol hidden in the suspect's car.
Synonyms
4
6.3
A pistol that reloads itself after each shot but needs a separate trigger pull for each bullet
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
Antonyms
- Specialized
2
5.1
A small gun that keeps firing while you hold the trigger and there are bullets
How Automatic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning — a pistol that automatically chambers a round after each shot — is directly and compositionally built from 'semiautomatic' (automatic reloading behaviour) + 'pistol' (handgun). This straightforward noun-plus-modifier structure follows normal English composition and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Semiautomatic pistol: The name comes from the parts semi (meaning 'half') and automatic (meaning 'works by itself') plus pistol (a small gun). It refers to a small gun that 'reloads itself' after each shot but still fires 'one shot each time you pull the trigger', so you must pull the trigger for every bullet even though the gun does the reloading for you.