Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

fire drill

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.06 in modern English

Syllables: fire -drill
IPA

13

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An organized practice to prepare occupants of an office, school or other public building for evacuation in the event of a fire.

noun

Any pointless, unproductive, useless, or chaotic activity.

American usage

noun

A fire-starting tool consisting of a wooden rod and some primitive means of rapidly rotating the rod on a flat surface like a drill until tinder can be ignited.

Example Sentences

"There was a fire drill this morning. We had to leave the building calmly and go to the birch tree, our meeting point."
"Since they've changed the standards again, our previous efforts now just amount to a fire drill."
"Near-synonym: firestarter (synonymous in some versions)"
"There is no machine on earth so potent, yet so simple and elegant, as the two sticks of the Native American fire drill;"

Usage

American usage

Inflected Forms

fire drills (plural)

Frequently Paired Words

Mexican standoff

Synonyms

fire practice Chinese fire drill Polish fire drill bow drill firestick hand drill pump drill firestarter

Questions

What does fire drill mean?: An organized practice to prepare occupants of an office, school or other public building for evacuation in the event of a fire.

How to pronounce fire drill

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “fire drill”.
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