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under fire

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Idioms and Phrases

Criticized or held responsible, as in The landlord is under fire for not repairing the roof . This expression originally referred to being within range of enemy guns; its figurative use dates from the late 1800s.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

“We became one family under fire, praying, waiting, surviving.”

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Water companies have come under fire in recent years for allowing more frequent discharging of sewage spills, polluting rivers and lakes.

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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth finds himself under fire again — this time from political skeptics or foes across the political spectrum.

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As a result, withdrawing convoys came under fire, and at least 366 Ukrainian fighters were killed.

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The GP points out what is left of her former workplace, an MSF burns clinic that came under fire in the early weeks of the war, during street battles between Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters.

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

underfelt underfired

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