FIRES Synonyms: 296 Similar and Opposite Words

fires 1 of 2

noun

plural of fire

as in infernos

a destructive burning a number of suspicious fires in the neighborhood recently

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as in ordeals

a test of faith, patience, or strength asked to be sent to the front lines, as he was eager to prove himself in the fire of battle

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fires

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of fire

as in shoots

to cause (a projectile) to be driven forward with force police officers firing rubber bullets

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as in blasts

to cause a weapon to release a missile with great force soldiers fired at the enemy in panic-stricken disorder

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as in stimulates

to give life, vigor, or spirit to a school outing to the natural history museum fired his imagination, and he grew up to become an eminent paleontologist

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in sacks

to let go from office, service, or employment fired the secretary for incompetence

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in throws

to send through the air especially with a quick forward motion of the arm fired a pass to the running back

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as in burns

to set (something) on fire lit some kindling before attempting to fire the logs

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of fires

Noun

Hackers raised the temperature of refrigerators and freezers, sparking fires and causing food to spoil. — Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 13 Oct. 2026 The Paris prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that its cybercrime unit was investigating the large-scale attack, including the extent of damage caused by spoiled food and reports of fires. — Angela Charlton, Los Angeles Times, 13 Oct. 2026 Crystal’s solo show 860 – the title refers to the address of the comedian’s longtime home that burned down in the Pacific Palisades fires – filled 92% of its seats at the Imperial, a noticeable improvement over the previous week’s 83%. — Greg Evans, Deadline, 13 Oct. 2026 Forest and land fires in Indonesia have worsened this year as El Niño intensifies a prolonged dry season. — ABC News, 13 Oct. 2026 The five-screen multiplex is located in Rick Caruso’s Palisades Village shopping area, which reopened in August after extensive remediation and repairs due to the fires. — Pat Saperstein, Variety, 13 Oct. 2026 Allen said the devastating Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles County in 2025 made the insurance crisis personal for him. — Kenny Choi, CBS News, 13 Oct. 2026 Bedrooms aside, each residence has its own features—a billiards room in Norwood, an infinity pool in Dunkeld, the superb garden suites in Castlereagh, the roaring fires in Summerville, and the rose terraces at Tientsin. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026 Video taken in cities including Paris, Lyon and Strasbourg showed demonstrators facing off with police, lighting fires and dodging tear gas. — Greg Norman-Diamond, FOXNews.com, 6 Oct. 2026

Verb

After all, what could go wrong sitting atop three million barrels of oil while a hostile country fires missiles and drones at it? — Arkansas Online, 12 Oct. 2026 Andrew Garfield stars as Altman, with Anora‘s Yura Borisov playing Ilya Sutskever, the chief scientific officer and co-founder of OpenAI who fires Altman. — Abid Rahman, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2026 Dennis Dooley, who was standing on the roadbed below, fires one shot, striking Bottom. — Emma Seiwell, New York Daily News, 3 Oct. 2026 Chernyshov gets the puck back and fires a backdoor pass through a defender’s legs to create a tap-in goal. — Harman Dayal, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2026 The officer, by then very close to the open window on the driver’s side, fires two more times, fatally shooting Renee Good, according to an analysis of the videos by the Associated Press and others. — Tim Sullivan, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026 Humiliated and filled with grief, Monica shows up at Jax’s law firm and fires her gun. — Yamillah Hurtado, PEOPLE, 22 Sep. 2026 In the show’s second season, Lumon struggles to contain the fallout from these discoveries and fires the head of the severed floor, Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette), replacing her with her former deputy, Seth Milchick (Tillman). — Jordana Rosenfeld, Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Sep. 2026 In production, a specific number fires the protocol long before any mortality. — Nilton Bernini, Forbes.com, 18 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fires

Noun

The soaring temperatures have caused raging infernos across southern France and Spain, with European wildfires burning through 56% more land than in prior years.

— Oliver Balch, Fortune, 27 July 2026
From a military perspective though, this strike, and the infernos which have engulfed other Wildberries facilities, have some important lessons for the rest of the world.

— David Hambling, Forbes.com, 23 July 2026

Definition of infernos

Verb

The episode ends with Lee running for his life while McCann shoots into the darkness of the treeline.

— Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 15 Oct. 2026
Body-camera video obtained by CBS News Atlanta shows HeeHaw the donkey galloping toward officers before a Cedartown police officer shoots him during a search for a missing girl.

— CBS News Atlanta Digital Team, CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of shoots

Verb

At the peak of the cycle, the sun blasts out more solar flares, as well as coronal mass ejections, immense explosions of material that scream outward into the solar system.

— Phil Plait, Scientific American, 9 Oct. 2026
In 2015, mine blasts at the border blamed on North Korea pushed the two Koreas to the brink of an armed conflict, after South Korea's then conservative government resumed front-line propaganda broadcasts for the first time in 11 years.

— ABC News, ABC News, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of blasts

Verb

Observation generates hypotheses; hypotheses lead to anatomical investigation; anatomy stimulates physiological questions; physiology eventually produces clinical trials.

— Subramaniam C. Krishnan, STAT, 28 Sep. 2026
The intimate spa offers a number of different treatments and beauty rituals, but the standout one is Oro di Amalfi, an exclusive massage with natural lemon oils that relaxes and stimulates the chakras.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 26 Sep. 2026

Definition of stimulates

Verb

That's where low-angle sunlight throws mountains and crater rims into sharp relief.

— Jamie Carter, Space.com, 16 Oct. 2026
Instead of taking a walk, a batter can sprint around the bases after ball four and continue advancing until the defensive team throws the ball to every fielder.

— Adam Thompson, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of throws

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fireproof

fires

fire sale

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Style

“Fires.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fires. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of fires

noun

verb

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