soft-nosed

Thân thiện

A hunter uses soft-nosed bullets for ethical hunting.

Definition

Adjective: 1. (Of a bullet) Designed with a soft tip or core, typically made of lead or another malleable material, that deforms, mushrooms, or expands significantly upon striking a target. This expansion increases the bullet's diameter, creating a larger wound channel and transferring kinetic energy more effectively, but reduces its ability to penetrate hard barriers.

Usage

• This term is used almost exclusively in the context of firearms, ammunition, and ballistics.
• It describes a specific design characteristic of a projectile.
• It is often contrasted with "full metal jacket" (FMJ) or "armor-piercing" bullets, which are designed to retain their shape and penetrate.

Examples

• Adjective:
  • Hunters often use soft-nosed bullets for ethical takedowns of game, as they cause more immediate trauma.
  • The police issued a warning about the criminal's use of soft-nosed ammunition, which poses a greater threat to public safety.
  • For target shooting at the range, soft-nosed rounds are less common than full metal jacket rounds.

Advanced Usage

• Technical Context: The term is part of a classification system for small arms ammunition. "Soft-point" (SP) is a very common synonym. The "soft nose" refers to the exposed lead tip at the bullet's front.
• Legal & Regulatory Context: The use of soft-nosed bullets is restricted or prohibited in warfare under various international conventions (e.g., the Hague Conventions) due to the severe injuries they cause. Their legality for civilian hunting or self-defense varies by jurisdiction.

Variants and Related Words

• Soft-point (SP) (adj/n): The most common direct synonym for soft-nosed, describing the same bullet design.
• Hollow-point (HP) (adj/n): A related but distinct design where the bullet has a cavity in its nose to promote even more controlled expansion upon impact.
• Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) (adj/n): The antonym in ammunition design; a bullet with a hard metal coating that fully encloses the core, designed to expand.

Synonyms

• Expanding
• Dum-dum (historical/archaic term, now often considered pejorative and technically inaccurate for modern designs)

Notes on Meaning

The core meaning of soft-nosed is strictly technical and relates to the physical construction and terminal ballistic behavior of a bullet. It does not have idiomatic or figurative uses in standard English. All usage derives from this primary, specialized definition.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. (of a bullet) made of soft material that expands on impact