Meaning of under fire | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Subjected to enemy attack with firearms.
2. Criticized or held responsible for something.
   figuratively

Equivalents

Examples

“courage under fire”

“coolness under fire”

“Enlisted personnel are thoroughly trained and stay calm under fire. Turian units don't break. Even if their entire line collapses, they fall back in order, setting ambushes as they go.”

“grace under fire”

“The clerk had, I'm afraid, a shrew of a wife—shrill, vehement, and fluent. […] He had learned, by long experience, the best tactique under fire: he became actually taciturn; or, if he spoke, his speech was laconic and enigmatical; sometimes throwing out a proverb, and sometimes a text; and sometimes when provoked past endurance, spouting mildly a little bit of meek and venomous irony.”

“Meanwhile, the government's own Human Services department is under fire from the Ombudsman for its failure to protect children in its care.”

“Over the past two years, particularly in 2018, Network Rail has come under fire about its approaches to trackside tree-felling across its 52,000-hectare estate. Conservationists accused it of wanton destruction.”

CEFR level