Quote:
Main Entry: snipe
Function: intransitive verb
Date: 1832
Inflected Form(s): sniped; snip.ing
1 : to shoot at exposed individuals (as of an enemy's forces) from a usually concealed point of vantage
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In the meaning of the word, he is a sniper. Accuracy or skill at shooting are not in the definition. He'd still be a sniper if he had to take five shots at each victim.
The shame in using the word
sniper in the media is that it takes the place of the more dissuasive word,
murderer, which should be attributed to the shooter in response to every attack.
The desciption focuses on the shooting and the shooter and dehumanized the murder victims, who becomes targets of a sniper rather than victims of a murderer.