smoking gun
39
5.3
- noun
- /ˈsmoʊkɪŋ ɡʌn/
- Literature
- The incriminating email served as the smoking gun in the investigation into the company's fraud.
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Watch on YouTubeAnd there's not some kind of smoking gun evidence for its function.
- And there's not some kind of smoking gun evidence for its function.
- OK, well, that's tantalizing, but it's not the smoking gun, OK?
- These are the famous smoking gun Nixon tapes.
- You know, she's found the the smoking gun.
- Right now, when we found the medical records, to me it's a smoking gun.
- That's three smoking guns right there implicating a supermassive black hole.
- We cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.
- Well, some people believe that this is one of the investigations where the smoking gun came out first and that call was a smoking gun.
- That way, if a reporter tried to find out if Trump ever learned to read, write or spell, there would be no smoking gun.
- You know, we haven't found the smoking gun, and it's that smoking gun that I'll be looking for when I get back to looking at my data at my desk tomorrow.
- This is the Big Bang's smoking gun, this radiation, because the universe was very compressed at the beginning, it was also very hot.
- So there is a smoking gun in the case of humans as well.
- Headline news, smoking gun, Secret Service agents:.
- It's not proven yet, but a lot of smoking guns.
- That's three smoking guns right there, implicating a super massive black hole.
Examples
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But I've got the smoking gun.
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Samsung can hardly explain away all of Apple's smoking guns for intentional copying.
Blog text (33) -
This was the smoking gun for the defense.
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I think, sir, we have our smoking gun.
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After just a few weeks of searching, the team discovered a smoking gun.
Academic text (2004) -
But I do declare this man is guilty and I have the smoking gun to prove it.
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These are the famous smoking gun Nixon tapes.
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For us, the Step Inn bombing was the smoking gun.
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Edwards' defense will have to explain away the donor's 'smoking gun' note.
Blog text (17) -
Strahm's voice on that tape would be our smoking gun.
Synonyms
5
3.7
Important proof that helps decide a legal case or argument
Clear and strong information that convinces people it is true
Antonyms
How Conclusive
- Literature
39
5.3
- Formal
- Specialized
33
6.7
Surface Forms
Morphology
smoking + gun
The literal image of a gun still smoking after being fired evokes immediate, direct proof linking someone to an act, so a learner who knows 'smoking' and 'gun' plus basic real-world knowledge could plausibly infer the phrase refers to clear evidence. However, the meaning is a metonymic/metaphorical extension (object → proof) that relies on pragmatic and cultural inference rather than straightforward compositionality, so it is not fully transparent.
Etymology
The noun smoking gun comes from the image of a gun that is still smoking after being fired, where the visible smoke shows the weapon was just used. So, today smoking gun means 'clear proof' that someone did something wrong.