Fireworks
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 plural of firework. form-of, plural
- 2 An event or a display where fireworks are set off. plural, plural-only
"5000 Marrons in Battery, which continue firing to the End of the Fireworks."
- 3 A boisterous or violent event or situation. figuratively, plural, plural-only
"I left the room after John came home drunk but before the fireworks went off."
Example
More examples"The sky was ablaze with fireworks."
Etymology
From fire + work(s). The similarity with Dutch vuurwerk and German Feuerwerk, both “fireworks”, is hardly coincidental. Since the word was apparently first attested in English circa 1575, probably from the Dutch (1540), from the German (sense early 16th c.), from Middle High German viurwerc (14th c. as “fuel, firewood”). A spread from the south northwards is also in line with the fact that the first European fireworks were produced in Italy in the late 14th century.
Related phrases
More for "fireworks"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.