smoking gun

noun

: something that serves as conclusive evidence or proof (as of a crime or scientific theory)

Examples of smoking gun in a Sentence

This document is the smoking gun that proves that he was lying.

Recent Examples on the Web Suspected killer worked hard to cover tracks, but notes revealed smoking gun. —

Fox News, 7 June 2024 The ongoing Republican impeachment investigation into President Biden appears to be running out of gas with no smoking gun emerging from six months of hearings and closed-door depositions. —

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 15 Mar. 2024 There would be no obvious smoking gun to justify expelling Goldman from the United States; that case would require more sophisticated forms of information management. —

Steven Johnson, New York Times, 17 May 2024 The father-daughter pair’s find, which was just six miles away from de la Salle’s, was the smoking gun. —

Christian Thorsberg, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Apr. 2024 See all Example Sentences for smoking gun

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'smoking gun.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.