fire off

verb

fired off; firing off; fires off

transitive verb

: to write and send usually in haste or anger
fired off a memo

Examples of fire off in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Just three days after surgery to remove one of his kidneys, Miller slowly strolled right in — cane in hand — and took a seat with Council, firing off jokes without missing a beat. — Heidi Finley, Charlotte Observer, 8 Oct. 2026 Stories of young job seekers firing off hundreds of applications without landing an offer have become all too common. — Muskaan Arshad, Fortune, 7 Oct. 2026 Broadly, though, the firms seem to have watched for accounts prompting their models in suspicious ways, whether by firing off lots of prompts in a short time or by asking telltale kinds of questions. — Peter Hall, Scientific American, 7 Oct. 2026 The Bass campaign, citing the fact that Raman appeared on Piker’s stream the same day, fired off an email to reporters claiming the councilmember had lied about her reasons for missing the Jewish heritage event. — James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 3 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for fire off

Word History

First Known Use

1888, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of fire off was in 1888

Rhymes for fire off

See All Rhymes for fire off

Browse Nearby Words

fir engraver
fire off
fire on all cylinders
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Fire off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fire%20off. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of compunction

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

7 Words for Bad Endings and Rough Situations

Did 'orange' the fruit or the color come first?
See More

Popular

See More

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

16 Food Words Recently Added to the Dictionary

The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
artwork of illustrated limes with the text limes and smile with an arrow connecting the two words
Quiz: Spot the Anagram! Scramble these words to find new words with the e...
See All