automatic rifle

7 4.7

A rifle that shoots bullets without stopping as long as the trigger is held

noun
/ˌɔːtəˈmætɪk ˈraɪfəl/

Specialized

: rifle automático

During the training exercise, every participant was required to familiarize themselves with their automatic rifle.

One with grenades and one with an automatic rifle, sorry, a support weapon.

Examples

Both sides are armed with automatic rifles, rocket propelled grenades and mortars.
They say that they have found a Browning automatic rifle, fitted with a marksman's scope, on a sidewalk.

JFK (1991)
Soldiers on a high state of alert stand guard with automatic rifles.

Fiction book (1990)
Standing guard, automatic rifle in hand, Raymond appears with his back toward us.

Fiction book (1998)
They're using an automatic rifle.

Ishtar (1987)
Five men, jumping from a military-like jeep, carrying automatic rifles.

Academic text (2017)
As we took cover behind stone columns, our automatic rifles laid waste to crates, sandbags, and aging architecture.

Blog text (20)
Guards patrolled the marbled hallways with automatic rifles.

Academic text (2009)
Behind them in the dimly lit chamber, whose decaying walls rose to a dome-shaped roof, automatic rifles rested on wooden bunks.

Academic text (2006)
The soldiers were equipped with automatic rifles as they prepared for the mission.

Synonyms

automatic weapon

vsautomatic rifle

Specialized

38 4.9

A gun that reloads and keeps firing while the trigger is held

is narrower, referring to the shoulder-fired long form

assault rifle

vsautomatic rifle

Specialized

36 4.8

A military gun that fires many bullets fast and holds them in a removable box

is the non-military general type used beyond armed forces

automatic

vsautomatic rifle

1 7.3

A gun that keeps firing while the trigger is held

is the shoulder-held self-loading form rather than the broader non-shoulder-held category

Browning automatic rifle

vsautomatic rifle

Archaic

1 7.4

A portable .30 caliber automatic rifle used by United States soldiers in World War I, World War II, and Korea

is the general class rather than a single historical model

automatic firearm

vsautomatic rifle

Specialized

1 5.1

A gun that keeps loading and shooting as long as you hold the trigger

is the narrower shoulder-weapon form rather than any firearm

automatic gun

vsautomatic rifle

Specialized

1 3.9

A weapon that reloads and keeps firing while you hold the trigger

is the specific shoulder-fired category rather than any handheld firearm

machine rifle

vsautomatic rifle

Specialized

7.5

A gun that fires many bullets automatically with one pull of the trigger

is the general name for that same self-loading long firearm

How Automatic

automatic rifle

Specialized

7 4.7

semiautomatic firearm

Specialized

1 7.2

Surface Forms

automatic rifle singular

automatic rifles plural

Morphology

automatic + rifle

The phrase is a straightforward adjective+noun composition: 'automatic' (self-operating / fires automatically) modifies 'rifle' (a firearm), so the meaning 'a rifle that fires automatically' is directly derivable from the constituents. This compositional pattern is common across languages and follows normal English noun phrase logic, so a B1 learner who knows both words would understand it.

Etymology

Automatic rifle comes from the words automatic (meaning 'works by itself') and rifle (a long gun). Early designs had parts that let the gun load and fire each bullet without a person reloading, so the name gives the picture of a rifle that 'fires by itself' when you hold the trigger.