Shot Through With: Standard Pattern
Shot Through With: Standard Pattern records a directly documented English construction and keeps guidance bounded to the evidenced pattern rather than turning one attested complement into a universal prohibition.
Use “shot through with” when a quality, emotion, or feature is noticeably present throughout something.
Key details
Choose the right form
| Meaning / situation | Form / construction | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| a quality, emotion, or feature is noticeably present throughout something | be shot through with + noun | Use the documented idiomatic pattern. |
| a literal projectile passes through something | literal “shot through” construction | Do not confuse the idiom with a separate literal shooting sense. |
| ordinary containment without a throughout/permeating sense | choose a plainer expression | Use “contains,” “has,” or another literal verb when the idiomatic image is not intended. |
Quick tests
Meaning / construction test
Does the complement describe a quality or feature that runs through or permeates the whole thing?
If yes: “Shot through with” fits the documented idiomatic pattern.
If no: If the meaning is literal shooting or simple possession, choose the construction that states that meaning directly.
Caveat: The guide covers the idiomatic “be shot through with something” pattern and does not generalize it to every literal use of “shot through.”
Examples
Her account was shot through with dry humor.
The quality is presented as recurring throughout the account.
The speech was shot through with anxiety.
The emotion is portrayed as present throughout the speech.
The stone was shot through with pale veins.
The feature is described as running through the material.
Further guidance
Construction
Use “shot through with” when a quality, emotion, or feature is noticeably present throughout something.
Style Boundary
Cambridge treats “be shot through with something” as an idiom. This page covers that figurative throughout/containment meaning, not unrelated senses of “shoot.”
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
- be shot through with something — Cambridge English Dictionary (opens in a new tab)Cambridge Dictionary · Direct Cambridge dictionary evidence for the idiom “be shot through with something.”