Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sure-fire

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.15 in modern English

Syllables: sure--fire
IPA

11

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

3

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Guaranteed to work or happen.

Example Sentences

"That hat should be a sure-fire way to spot him in a crowd."
"[…] just as he knew that showing up for lunch with a brown bag full of dried squirrel jerky and mushrooms and lemongrass was a surefire way to end up social roadkill in the high school hierarchy, […]"
"There certainly looks to be a whole clutch of sure-fire winners among the 11 promised new productions."
"I believe that dismissing people, dismissing their concerns or worse yet, shutting down media, shutting down elections or shutting people out of the political process protects nothing. In fact, it is the most sure-fire way to destroy democracy."

Etymology

From sure + fire, originally used to denote the efficacy of firearms (rifles) to fire.

Inflected Forms

more sure-fire (comparative) most sure-fire (superlative) surefire (alternative)

Frequently Paired Words

foolproof

Questions

What does sure-fire mean?: Guaranteed to work or happen.
Where does sure-fire come from?: From sure + fire, originally used to denote the efficacy of firearms (rifles) to fire.

How to pronounce sure-fire

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “sure-fire”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “sure-fire”.
Repeat and practice — Say “sure-fire” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.