Handgun
//ˈhændˌɡʌn// noun
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A small gun with a relatively short barrel, designed to be held and operated with a single hand.
"Petric used his father's key to open a lockbox and remove a 9mm handgun and the game."
- 2 a firearm that is held and fired with one hand wordnet
Example
More examples"Today marks the most deadly shooting in American history. The shooter was apparently armed with a handgun and a powerful assault rifle. This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well."
Etymology
From hand + gun.
More for "handgun"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.