fire

1. 1.

   the event of something burning (often destructive)

   “they lost everything in the fire”

   Broaderhappening

   Narrowerbackfirebonfirebrush firecampfireconflagrationforest firegrassfiresmouldersmudge
2. 2.

   the act of firing weapons or artillery at an enemy

   “hold your fire until you can see the whites of their eyes”

   “they retreated in the face of withering enemy fire”

   Synonymsfiring

   Broaderattack

   Narrowerantiaircraft firebarragebroadsidefusilladecall firecoverconcentrated fire
3. 3.

   the process of combustion of inflammable materials producing heat and light and (often) smoke

   “fire was one of our ancestors' first discoveries”

   Synonymsflameflaming

   Broadercombustion

   Narrowerblazeflareignition
4. 4.

   a fireplace in which a relatively small fire is burning

   “they sat by the fire and talked”

   Broaderfireplace

   Narrowercookfire
5. 5.

   once thought to be one of four elements composing the universe (Empedocles)

   Broaderelement

   archaism

6. 6.

   feelings of great warmth and intensity

   “he spoke with great ardor”

   Synonymsardorardourfervorfervourfervencyfervidness

   Broaderpassion

   Narrowerzeal
7. 7.

   fuel that is burning and is used as a means for cooking

   “put the kettle on the fire”

   “barbecue over an open fire”

   Broaderfuel
8. 8.

   a severe trial

   “he went through fire and damnation”

   Broadertrial
9. 9.

   intense adverse criticism

   “Clinton directed his fire at the Republican Party”

   “the government has come under attack”

   “don't give me any flak”

   Synonymsattackflakflackblast

   Broadercriticism

Other forms of fire

plural

fires·

past tense

fired·

present participle

firing·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about fire

What does fire mean?

fire means "start firing a weapon". That is the primary sense; the word has 21 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in fire?

fire has 2 syllables, though it cannot be divided in writing — the spelling has fewer vowels than the word has beats. In IPA it is /ˈfaɪɚ/.

What is another word for fire?

Close synonyms include open fire, discharge, displace, give notice, can. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of fire?

The recorded antonyms are hire.

Is fire a common word?

fire is banded "Core" — among the few thousand words that carry most english. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with fire?

14 words rhyme with fire. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.