Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

shoot an elephant with a bb gun

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.59 in modern English

Syllables
shoot an ele-phan-t with- a b-b -gun
IPA
44
Scrabble Score
25
Letters
6
Syllables
14
Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To attempt an action with drastically insufficient force, effort, or tools.

Inflected Forms

shoots an elephant with a BB gun (present, singular) shooting an elephant with a BB gun (participle, present) shot an elephant with a BB gun (participle, past) shot an elephant with a BB gun (past)

Phrases

bring a knife to a gunfight

Frequently Paired Words

bring a knife to a gunfight

Antonyms

use a sledgehammer to crack a nut

Questions

What does shoot an elephant with a bb gun mean?
To attempt an action with drastically insufficient force, effort, or tools.

How to pronounce shoot an elephant with a bb gun

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “shoot an elephant with a bb gun”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “shoot an elephant with a bb gun”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “shoot an elephant with a bb gun” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.