return fire
return fire noun: the firing initiated after receiving incoming fire.
Noun
return fire (uncountable)
Verb
return fire (third-person singular simple present returns fire, present participle returning fire, simple past and past participle returned fire)
- To shoot at the person from whom fire is being received
Forms of return fire
| third-person singular present | returns fire |
|---|---|
| present participle | returning fire |
| past participle | returned fire |
| past | returned fire |
Questions about return fire
- What does return fire mean?
- Return fire means the firing initiated after receiving incoming fire.
- What part of speech is return fire?
- Return fire can be a noun or a verb.
Words near return fire in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: return fire (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “return fire.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/return_fire. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
