What is "sniper"

"sharpshooter; one who shoots from a hidden place," 1824, agent noun from snipe (v.). The birds were considered a challenging target for an expert shooter:\n\nSnipe Shooting is a good trial of the gunner's skill, who often engages in this diversion, without the assistance of a dog of any kind; a steady pointer, however, is a good companion.

["Sportsman's Calendar," London, December 1818]

n. 1 A person using long-range small arms for precise attacks from a concealed position. 2 Any attacker using a non-contact weapon against a specific target from a concealed position. 3 One who shoots from a concealed position. 4 One who criticizes.

n. a marksman who shoots at people from a concealed place

A sniper is a marksman or qualified specialist who operates alone, in a pair, or with a sniper team to maintain close visual contact with the enemy and engage targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the detection capabilities of enemy personnel. Snipers typically have highly-selective or specialized training and use crew-served high-precision/special application rifles and optics, and often have sophisticated communication assets to feed valuable combat information back to their units or military bases.

Most sniper teams operate independently, with little combat asset support from their parent units; their job is to deliver discriminatory, highly-accurate rifle fire against enemy targets that cannot be engaged successfully by the regular rifleman because of range, size, location, fleeting nature, or visibility. Sniping requires the development of basic infantry skills to a high degree of skill. A sniper's training incorporates a wide variety of subjects designed to increase value as a force multiplier and to ensure battlefield survival. The art of sniping requires learning and repetitively practicing these skills until mastered. A sniper must be highly trained in long range rifle marksmanship and field craft skills to ensure maximum effective engagements with minimum risk.

In addition to marksmanship and long range shooting, military snipers are trained in a variety of techniques: detection, stalking, and target range estimation methods, camouflage, field craft, infiltration, special reconnaissance and observation, surveillance and target acquisition.

Sniper is a 1993 American action film starring Tom Berenger and Billy Zane as snipers on an assassination mission in Panama. It was shot in Queensland, Australia, and debuted at number two in the United States. It initiated the Sniper film series and was followed by five sequels: Sniper 2, Sniper 3, Sniper: Reloaded, Sniper: Legacy and Sniper: Ghost Shooter.

A sniper is a military or police member who has received specialized training in engaging targets at long ranges using rifles equipped with telescopic sights.

Sniper may also refer to:

Sniper is a French hip hop band from the Val-d'Oise department consisting of Tunisiano (Bachir Baccour) and Aketo (Ryad Selmi). Blacko, also known as Afrikaf (Karl Appela), was a member of the group until his departure in July 2007. A fourth member, DJ Boudj, took part in the first two albums before leaving the group.

"Sniper" is a ballad written by Harry Chapin and first released on the album Sniper and Other Love Songs in 1972.

Sniper was an early American glam punk band that formed in New York in 1972. They were one of several bands that played at the Mercer Arts Center, Max's Kansas City and the Coventry alongside the New York Dolls and Suicide, and were most famous for its former members, which included frontman Joey Ramone (Jeff Hyman), prior to his forming the Ramones, and guitarist Frank Infante, later of Blondie.

The Sniper series is a series of action and war films beginning with Sniper in 1993. All six films feature the United States Armed Forces. The series so far has run for 22 years.

Sniper is a fictional villain, and enemy of the Marvel Comics antihero the Punisher. He was created by Carl Potts and Jim Lee, and first appeared in The Punisher War Journal Vol. 1, #4 (March 1989).