Definition

Adjective: 1. Of a firearm's barrel: Having a series of spiral grooves (rifling) cut into the interior surface. These grooves cause a projectile to spin, stabilizing its flight for greater accuracy. * The museum displayed a collection of antique rifled muskets from the 19th century. * Modern handguns and sniper rifles have rifled barrels.

Usage Notes

• The term rifled is used almost exclusively to describe the barrel of a firearm or artillery piece. It is the opposite of smoothbore.
• It is a technical, descriptive adjective. You would not typically use it to describe the act of firing the weapon (e.g., "He rifled the gun" is incorrect).

Advanced Usage

• The concept can be extended metaphorically to describe other cylindrical objects engineered with spiral grooves for a specific purpose, though this is rare.
  • The engineer designed a rifled tube to impart a spin to the fluid, improving mixing efficiency. (Technical/engineering context)

Variants and Related Words

• Rifle (verb): To search through something hastily and thoroughly, often to steal.
  • The thieves rifled through the drawers looking for jewelry. (Note: This is a completely different meaning from the adjective "rifled").
• Rifling (noun): The spiral grooves themselves, or the process of cutting them.
  • The precision of the rifling determines the weapon's accuracy.
• Smoothbore (adjective): The antonym; describing a firearm barrel without internal grooves.

Synonyms

• Grooved (specifically spiral-grooved)
• Fluted (in a general engineering sense, but not a direct synonym for firearms)

Antonyms

• Smoothbore

Adjective

1. of a firearm; having rifling or internal spiral grooves inside the barrel