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Glite Dictionary
to fire on all cylinders

to fire on all cylinders

5 5.7
Work at the best possible level
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : funcionar a todo vapor
  • Every single one of them is firing on all cylinders.
  • really firing on all cylinders

Vision is what does it look like when it's firing on all cylinders?

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Examples

  • A&M most definitely has the tools to put it all together for an upset if all the pieces are firing on all cylinders.

    Blog text (24)

  • Policy recommendations to get the engines of democracy firing on all cylinders.

    Blog text (34)

  • Coming off a rare 4-6 season in 2011, this year's team has fired on all cylinders.

    Blog text (19)

  • I promise you he will get it together, and he will come out firing on all cylinders.

    Blog text (14)

  • I know some fans will feel that we are just in that adaptation period and that once these players have developed a better understanding of each other, we will fire on all cylinders.

    Blog text (1)

  • And I think when we I have a Democratic Party that's firing on all cylinders, we win at scale up and down the ballot.

  • "Minnesota is a state firing on all cylinders," Michael McDonald, associate professor at George Mason University, writes in a 2010 US Elections Project report.

    Blog text (14)

  • The Giants must fire on all cylinders offensively and neutralize RGIII to come out victorious.

    Blog text (9)

  • The show came out firing on all cylinders with a sketch riffing on Lydia Calas, Mayor Bloomberg's breakout star/sign language interpreter.

    Blog text (1)

  • The team is firing on all cylinders this season, showing unmatched coordination and skill.

Synonyms

to work on all cylinders
vsto fire on all cylinders
  • Informal
1 5.2

To do something with a lot of energy and good results

is the more idiomatic and vivid expression for the same idea

Antonyms

to fail
898 1.0

Not succeed in doing something you wanted to do

to underperform
20 5.3

To do worse than expected or needed

How Well

to fire on all cylinders
  • Informal
5 5.7
to function
441 2.6
to manage
∞ 3.2
to struggle
851 2.8
to break down
194 3.2

Surface Forms

fire on all cylinders infinitive
fired on all cylinders past
fired on all cylinders past participle
firing on all cylinders present participle
fires on all cylinders third person singular

Morphology

fire + on + all + cylinder

The phrase originates from internal-combustion engines where each cylinder 'fires' and performing with 'all cylinders' firing implies maximum power, so the constituents hint at a notion of full capacity. However, understanding this requires technical or cultural knowledge about engines and the verb sense of 'fire' in that context, which a typical B1 learner who simply knows the basic meanings of 'fire', 'on', 'all', and 'cylinder' is unlikely to have. Therefore the relation is only partially transparent and relies on metaphorical/technical knowledge.

Etymology

The phrase fire on all cylinders comes from car engines, where each cylinder must 'fire' to make power and when all of them do the engine runs at full strength. So the phrase means 'to work at full power' or 'perform very well'.