Also: quick-firing. capable of or designed for quick fire
informal rapid or following one another in rapid succession
quick-fire questions
First recorded in 1890–95
First recorded in 1890–95
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ian currently manages the U.K. companies desk, overseeing corporate news flashes and quick fire fills for both the Dow Jones Newswire and The Wall Street Journal's website.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 19, 2026
They're being judged in a quick fire and then the elimination, and then there's one day of rest, and then they're back in it again.
From Salon ● Apr. 27, 2023
A quick fire drill in the cold means we bond like a bunch of Emperor penguins, Gaia the warmest in the middle.
From Time ● Oct. 6, 2016
They will also take an aggressive legal posture, the attorneys said, filing quick fire lawsuits to fight potentially shoddy jail conditions, onerous bail bonds and civil rights abuses.
From Chicago Tribune ● Nov. 21, 2014
“You been mighty natural and considerate,” the mother said to the younger children later when she went to the woodpile and called them to pick dry kindling for a quick fire.
From "Sounder" by William H. Armstrong
Spain-based Cuban economist Pedro Monreal warned that a quick-fire sale of state enterprises "without robust legal safeguards" could result in "the capture of state assets by insiders well-connected to those in power."
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
In another, he appeared irritated by what he felt was mocking "quick-fire" questioning.
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
I played their game like ping pong, returning their quick-fire questions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 29, 2025
He speaks with a quick-fire cadence, spilling out thoughts as if his words can’t keep up with his brain.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2024
He was only twelve then, but he could have been twenty-two: his quick-fire intelligence was already being cooled by gravity, the brittle self-assuredness of adolescence already annealing into the self-confidence of adulthood.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
