Learn English – An arthe of hackers put America’s power grid in its sights – meaning of in its sights

meaningusage

Source: http://gizmodo.com/you-just-missed-a-massive-destructive-fake-cyberatta-1465317346

What would happen if an army of hackers put America's power grid in its sights and pulled the trigger? How fast would the country descend into darkness? Would there be anarchy in the streets? Would people die? According to a war game carried out across the country this week, the answer is not necessarily good news.

I can't figure out the meaning of in its sights in this sentence.

Best Answer

Sights are the parts of a weapon - for instance, a gun - that lets you aim it more accurately.

This is a metaphor: to put something in your sights is to aim at it, and so you could congruently phrase it instead:

What would happen if an army of hackers aimed at America's power grid...

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