firefighter

American

[fahyuhr-fahy-ter] / ˈfaɪərˌfaɪ tɛr /

Or fire fighter

noun

a person who fights destructive fires.

firefighter British

/ ˈfaɪəˌfaɪtə /

noun

a person who fights fires, usually a public employee or trained volunteer

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

firefighting noun

Etymology

Origin of firefighter

First recorded in 1900–05; fire + fighter

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The firefighter has a side business taking tourists bow-fishing for the carp along the Illinois River, where he rigs nets around the boat for protection.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

On Wednesday, a volunteer firefighter was found dead from suspected exhaustion linked to heat and underlying health conditions, officials told AFP.

From Barron's • Apr. 3, 2026

“But at some point, she’s gonna go home to the small town and find the nice firefighter and realize there’s another option.”

From MarketWatch • Mar. 12, 2026

He wants to study to become a firefighter.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2026

Instead, for the next two hours, again and again he led the firefighter back over the events of that day in an attempt to document precisely what the lieutenant did and didn’t know.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023