under fire
prep_phraseUS /ˈʌndɚ faɪɚ/ · UK /ˈʌndə faɪə/
1
Subjected to enemy attack with firearms.
- courage under fire
- coolness under fire
1 more example
- Enlisted personnel are thoroughly trained and stay calm under fire. Turian units don't break. Even if their entire line collapses, they fall back in order, setting ambushes as they go.2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Turians: Military Doctrine Codex entry:
2
Figuratively Criticized or held responsible for something.
- grace under fire
- The clerk had, I'm afraid, a shrew of a wife—shrill, vehement, and fluent. […] He had learned, by long experience, the best tactique under fire: he became actually taciturn; or, if he spoke, his speech was laconic and enigmatical; sometimes throwing out a proverb, and sometimes a text; and sometimes when provoked past endurance, spouting mildly a little bit of meek and venomous irony.1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
2 more examples
- Meanwhile, the government's own Human Services department is under fire from the Ombudsman for its failure to protect children in its care.2009, Michael O'Connor, Quadrant, November 2009, No. 461 (Volume LIII, Number 11), Quadrant Magazine Limited, page 2
- Over the past two years, particularly in 2018, Network Rail has come under fire about its approaches to trackside tree-felling across its 52,000-hectare estate. Conservationists accused it of wanton destruction.2020 June 3, Andrew Mourant, “A safer railway in a greener habitat”, in Rail, page 58:
- Related terms
- under the gun, under the magnifying glass, under the microscope