friendly fire
22
6.5
- noun
- /ˈfrɛndli faɪər/
- Specialized
:
fuego amigo
- Despite knowing, along with Wittgenstein, that the world is everything that is the case, Lieutenant James Lockwood of the First Battalion York and Lancaster Regiment, is wounded by friendly fire and dies on his way to hospital.
- friendly fire incident
- friendly fire casualties
- killed by friendly fire
No auto reload and tons of friendly fire deaths.
- No auto reload and tons of friendly fire deaths.
- Their food ran out, then they were hit by friendly fire artillery.
- In the end of it, the two of the three remaining hostages were killed in a botched rescue attempt and they were shot by friendly fire.
Examples
-
It was friendly fire.
-
In the fog of war, the potential for friendly fire increases dramatically.
Blog text (23) -
Most of the guys killed were killed by friendly fire.
Fiction book (1999) -
To have people on our side hitting him with friendly fire does not help one bit.
Blog text (31) -
Border agent's death may have been from 'friendly fire.'
Blog text (1) -
Most U.S. casualties were caused by friendly fire.
-
9 Israelis were killed from Palestinian activity, 3 from friendly fire.
Blog text (20) -
Lakewood officer killed in friendly-fire incident.
Blog text (22) -
Officials are examining the possibility that Ivie's death and the wounding of another agent may have come from 'friendly fire.'
Blog text (1) -
In a tragic mistake, two soldiers were injured in a friendly fire incident during the training exercise.
Synonyms
2
9.9
An accident in war when troops accidentally shoot members of their own side
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is largely compositional: 'friendly' (belonging to or coming from allies/friends) combined with 'fire' (gunfire) will lead many learners to infer it refers to gunfire from one's own side. However, the conventional sense that this is an accidental or mistaken attack (a military technical term) is not fully explicit from the parts, so full understanding may require prior exposure or context.
Etymology
Friendly fire comes from battlefields where soldiers sometimes accidentally shot at people on their own side. The word friendly means an ally and fire means shooting, so the phrase now means 'an attack that accidentally hurts your own troops'.