Definition of "sniper" []

• A skilled military shooter detailed to spot and pick off enemy soldiers from a concealed place. (noun)
• One who shoots at other people from a concealed place. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "And I think one of the reasons that the police are steadfastly avoiding the use of the term sniper is they don't want anyone to lock their mind into what they think a sniper is, and therefore, possibly not turn someone in to the police because he doesn't look like a sniper."
• "COOPER: We are still, of course, comfortable using the term sniper for the shooting last night because we know the shots came from the wooded area."
• "To the average western man, who has an aversion to what he considers unsportsmanlike conduct, merely the mention of the word sniper evokes an image of an evil little foreign man sneaking through the jungles of Okinawa picking off the good guys, or of a merciless Viet Cong hiding in a tree waiting for the opportunity to kill a 19-year-old GI from Des Moines or Wichita as he walks patrol at Nha Trang."