1. shotguns that fire multiple pellets in a spread pattern
2. approaches or methods that are broad and unfocused, targeting many things at once
Usage: figurative

Examples

• The hunters carried scatterguns for bird hunting.
• Police officers were equipped with scatterguns for crowd control.
• The company’s marketing used scatterguns rather than targeted campaigns.
• His scatterguns approach to studying covered too many topics superficially.
• The detective criticized the scatterguns investigation methods.
• Scatterguns are effective at close range but lose accuracy over distance.