marksmanship

From marksman +‎ -ship.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑɹksmənʃɪp/

marksmanship (countable and uncountable, plural marksmanships)

1. The ability to shoot accurately at a target.
   • 1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter III, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC:

     One evening when it was barely even dusk a sentry let fly at me from a distance of twenty yards; but he missed me by a yard—goodness knows how many times the Spanish standard of marksmanship has saved my life.

   • 2007, Amanda Astill, Tom Bromley, Michael Moran, Simon Trewin, Shopping While Drunk: Confessions from Modern Life, London: John Murray, →ISBN, page 157:

     After a fine night on the grog, with bladder pressures reaching an estimated 4,000,000 psi (estimated by drunken scientists), the comparatively short range marksmanship required of an in-sink micturator is a significantly more approachable challenge than the tricky long yellow of the traditional method.

   • 2018 December 8, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2 - 0 Manchester City”, in BBC Sport‎:

     City's multi-talented squad can cover almost all eventualities, but this was a game in which they sorely missed the marksmanship of the injured Sergio Aguero, and also Kevin de Bruyne's creation.