fusillade

[fyoo-suh-leyd, -lahd, -zuh-]

See more synonyms for fusillade on Thesaurus.com

noun

a simultaneous or continuous discharge of firearms.
a general discharge or outpouring of anything: a fusillade of questions.

verb (used with object), fu·sil·lad·ed, fu·sil·lad·ing.

to attack or shoot by a fusillade.

Origin of fusillade

1795–1805; < French, equivalent to fusill(er) to shoot (see fusil¹) + -ade -ade¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for fusillade

volley, barrage, salvo, broadside, hail

Examples from the Web for fusillade

Contemporary Examples of fusillade

They can expect a fusillade of incoming from Gillibrand and her colleagues.
Senate Hearings Will Probe Sexual Assaults in the Armed Services
Lloyd Grove
March 13, 2013

Historical Examples of fusillade

He followed with a fusillade of questions in strange and varying tongues.
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, November, 1930
Various
But he had scarcely turned his head when a fusillade burst out.
The Fortune of the Rougons
Emile Zola
But the fusillade had begun afresh, this time on the left, in the olive plantations.
The Fortune of the Rougons
Emile Zola
They, too, fled before the fusillade and the hail of shot that descended on them.
The Historical Nights' Entertainment
Rafael Sabatini
A fusillade of shots and a babel of yelling from outside interrupted his words.
The Mountain Divide
Frank H. Spearman

British Dictionary definitions for fusillade

fusillade

noun

a simultaneous or rapid continual discharge of firearms
a sudden outburst, as of criticism

verb

(tr) to attack with a fusillade

Word Origin for fusillade

C19: from French, from fusiller to shoot; see fusil 1

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

Word Origin and History for fusillade

"simultaneous discharge of firearms," 1801, from French fusillade, from fusiller "to shoot," from fusil "musket" (see fusilier). As a verb from 1816.