Gunfire Meaning
/ˈɡʌnfʌɪə/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounShots from a gun or guns, typically creating loud report.
nounThe use of gunpowder-type weapons, mainly cannon, as opposed to swords or bayonets.
Sentence Examples
The police came as soon as they heard the gunfire.
The commander exposed his men to gunfire.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The loud ____ echoed through the battlefield.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The sound of distant ____ echoed through the valley, signaling that the battle was still raging.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰéntis Proto-Germanic *gunþiz Old Norse gunnr Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂-der. Proto-Indo-European *kelh₂tís Proto-Germanic *hildiz Old Norse hildr Old Norse Gunnhildrder. Middle English gunne English gun Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥ Proto-Germanic *fōr Proto-West Germanic *fuir Old English fȳr Middle English fyr English fire English gunfire From gun + fire.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"When sensors record a gunlike noise in, say, Cape Town or Chicago, software analyzes it for the sonic signatures of gunfire, and within seconds Beisner and his team listen to those audio files and look at those recorded waveforms at their office in Newark, Calif."
— 2019 June 8, Malia Wollan, “How to Tell Gunfire From Fireworks”, in The New York Times Magazine:
"Art. 33. All Plying boats, with the exception of two which are to be weekly appoin[t]ed by the Chief Commissary of Police and Harbour Master, and at gunfire in the evening to be placed in a tier alongside of the Quay or at a place to be pointed out by these Officers and fastened by a claim and a padlock, the key of which is to be kept by the Porter on duty or by the Police Guard who is to release them at gunfire in the morning."
— 1851, W. Draper Bolton, Bolton's Mauritius almanac, and official directory:
"The grand event on the 14th was the shooting for the second stage for the Queen's prize. This commenced punctually at gunfire in the morning : the men being divided into four squads at the long ranges on the north side of the common."
— 1864, Edmund Burke, editor, The Annual Register; A review of public events at home and abroad, for the year 1863:
"I had just awoke at gun-fire (5 A.M.), when suddenly the thatch began to rustle and shake as if an army of cats were galloping over it, and immediately afterwards my bed shook too, so that for an instant I imagined myself back in New Guinea, in my fragile house, which shook when an old cock went to roost on the ridge; but remembering that I was now on a solid earthen floor, I said to myself, "Why, it's an earthquake," and lay still in the pleasing expectation of another shock; but none came, and this was the only earthquake I ever felt in Ternate."
— 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 9:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The loud ____ echoed through the battlefield.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The sound of distant ____ echoed through the valley, signaling that the battle was still raging.