firing
noun
Simple meaning
The discharge of a gun or other weapon.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fyringSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfaɪɹɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The discharge of a gun or other weapon.
The dismissal of someone from a job due to poor work performance.
ceramics
The process of applying heat or fire, especially to clay, etc., to produce pottery.
The act of setting something on fire
The act of adding fuel to a fire.
Cauterization.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The discharge of a gun or other weapon.
Used this way, firing is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Chamber that is the part of a gun that receives the charge.
The line from which soldiers deliver fire.
The action that ignites the charge in a firearm.
The act of discharging a gun.
A squad formed to fire volleys at a military funeral or to carry out a military execution.
Striker that ignites the charge by striking the primer.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.