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Glite Dictionary
quick-fire question

quick-fire question

5.0
A question that follows another to get fast answers
  • noun
translation icon : pregunta rápida
  • The host wrapped up the interview with a series of quick-fire questions to keep the guests on their toes.

So we have a tradition here which we always start with a round of quick fire questions.

Examples

  • The teacher asked a few quick-fire questions to assess the students' understanding of the topic.

  • Last quick fire question, can practising mindfulness improve my health?

  • During the game show, the contestants faced rapid quick-fire questions that tested their knowledge.

Surface Forms

quick-fire question singular
quick-fire questions plural

Morphology

quick-fire + question

The sense 'a very fast question asked in rapid succession' is directly inferable from combining 'quick' (fast) with 'fire' used metaphorically to indicate rapid succession (cf. 'rapid-fire'). This compositional, mostly literal metaphor follows common English patterns so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily understand the meaning.

Etymology

The phrase quick-fire question comes from the image of quick-fire like short bursts of gunfire, with each question 'fired' one after another. That's why it means a question asked very quickly as part of a fast series, giving little time to answer.