firing

1. 1.

   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”

   Synonymsfire

   Broaderattack

   Narrowerantiaircraft firebarragebroadsidefusilladecall firecoverconcentrated firecounterfirecounterpreparation firecrossfire
2. 2.

   the act of discharging a gun

   Synonymsdischargefiring off

   Broadershooting

   Narrowergun
3. 3.

   the act of setting something on fire

   Synonymsignitionlightingkindlinginflammation

   Broaderburning
4. 4.

   the termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart)

   Synonymsdismissaldismissiondischargeliberationreleasesacksacking

   Broadertermination

   Narrowersuperannuationcongeremovaldeactivationhonorable dischargedishonorable dischargeSection Eight

Other forms of firing

plural

firings·

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 firing

What does firing mean?

firing means "the act of firing weapons or artillery at an enemy". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in firing?

firing has 2 syllables: fi-ring. The stress falls on "fi". In IPA it is /ˈfaɪɹɪŋ/.

What is another word for firing?

Close synonyms include fire, discharge, firing off, ignition, lighting. 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.

Is firing a common word?

firing is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.