Trigger Meaning
/ˈtɹɪɡəː/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA finger-operated lever used to fire a gun.
nounA similar device used to activate any mechanism.
Sentence Examples
The man put the gun against his forehead and squeezed the trigger.
Police can't be trigger happy.
Nuts can trigger off a violent allergic reaction.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Pressing this button will immediately ____ the machine to start printing documents.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The loud noise of the thunder was enough to ____ the alarm system of the car that was parked in the street today.
Word Origin & History
Originally tricker, from Dutch trekker (“pull”, noun, as in drawer-pull, bell-pull), from Dutch trekken (“to drag, draw, pull”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[W]e pull'd aſide the Tricker, and obſerv'd, that according to our expectation the force of the Spring of the Lock vvas not ſenſibly abated by the abſence of the Air."
— 1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, “[Experiment 14]”, in New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the University, for Tho[mas] Robinson, published 1660, →OCLC, page 89:
"A U235 bomb would therefore need to incorporate a gun weighing ten tons. Then there was the question of initiating or triggering the bomb."
— 2011, Jim Baggott, The First War of Physics, Pegasus Books, →ISBN:
"The accident followed torrential early morning rain that triggered widespread flooding across Scotland's tracks, including south of Carmont."
— 2020 August 26, Philip Haigh, “Network News: Three die in ScotRail landslip derailment at Carmont”, in Rail, page 6:
"People get triggered simply by seeing a Trump."
— 2019, Donald Trump Jr., Triggered, Center Street, →ISBN:
"I encountered a forum user who didn't agree with me, so I wrote some comments with my political slogans to trigger that clueless kiddo."
— 2020 January 25, Ernesto Londoño, Letícia Casado, “Glenn Greenwald in Bolsonaro’s Brazil”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 25 Jan 2020:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
Pressing this button will immediately ____ the machine to start printing documents.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The loud noise of the thunder was enough to ____ the alarm system of the car that was parked in the street today.