firefight

From fire +‎ fight.

firefight (plural firefights)

1. A skirmish involving an exchange of gunfire.
   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Profile Reconstruction:

     Military Specialization
     Soldier
     Soldiers are combat specialists ideal for the front lines of a firefight.

2. (figurative) An intense argument.
   • 2025 October 9, Ross Douthat, quoting Doug Wilson, “He Believes America Should Be a Theocracy. He Says His Influence Is Growing.”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 13 October 2025:

     Correct. That was actually my first internet controversy many years ago, with the kinists, white identitarians — I call them skinists. And I’ve been in polemical firefights with antisemites and actual misogynists, not people who are accused of being that way.

firefight (third-person singular simple present firefights, present participle firefighting, simple past and past participle firefought)

1. To engage in a firefight.
   • 2011 July 8, Mark Thompson, “Inside the Battle for Kandahar”, in Time‎^[2]:

     His goal: a patch of high ground called Sperwan Ghar, where he and his men firefought a thousand Taliban to take the hill and call in the air strikes critical to turning the tide.