friendly fire
Americannoun
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Insurance. a fire deliberately set and remaining contained, as in a fireplace or boiler, from which any resulting loss cannot be claimed as an insurance liability (hostile fire ).
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(in military combat) fire, as by artillery, by one's own forces, especially when causing damage near or casualties to one's own troops.
noun
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.
They include six aboard a refuelling aircraft that crashed in Iraq, an incident US officials said was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.
From Barron's • Mar. 15, 2026
The US Central Command confirmed it was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.
From BBC • Mar. 15, 2026
The incident was not due to hostile or friendly fire according to Central Command.
From Salon • Mar. 13, 2026
Central Command said the crash wasn’t due to hostile or friendly fire, and a second KC-135 involved in the incident landed safely.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 13, 2026
Other code talkers died in battle before the end of the war, but Harry Tsosie was the only one killed by friendly fire.
From "Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two" by Joseph Bruchac
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.
