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gunfire

noun

Simple meaning

The use of gunpowder-type weapons, mainly cannon.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

guhnfyer

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɡʌnfaɪɚ

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. chiefly military

    The use of gunpowder-type weapons, mainly cannon, as opposed to swords or bayonets.

  2. Shots from a gun or guns, typically creating loud report.

  3. military

    The act of shooting a gun

  4. military

    The time of firing of the morning gun or the evening gun.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient
Frequency
Uncommon

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The use of gunpowder-type weapons, mainly cannon, as opposed to swords or bayonets.

Used this way, gunfire is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a military use: it belongs to service and operational language.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Specialist/technical
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Specialized
Connotation
Clinical and technical
Usage feel
Technical and specialized

Where it naturally appears

  • Military
  • Historical writing
  • News/reporting
  • Technical/specialist writing

Usage note

In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use gunfire

  • “The gunfire endangered innocent bystanders.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

naval gunfiregunfire supportheavy gunfireenemy gunfirelike gunfireautomatic gunfirehear gunfiredistant gunfire

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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.