Meaning & use
fire hydrant
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A metal pipe with a valve, usually found at the side of a street, that firefighters connect a hose to for water.
Grammar: A normal countable noun: use 'a' or 'the' with the singular, and add -s for more than one.
Patterns
- a fire hydrant on the street
- park near a fire hydrant
- open a fire hydrant
The car was parked right in front of a fire hydrant, so it got a ticket.
Firefighters quickly attached their hose to the nearest hydrant.
In many cities, fire hydrants are painted yellow or red so they are easy to see.
Word forms
| plural | fire hydrants |
|---|
Common combinations
- park in front of a fire hydrant
- You can be fined for parking in front of a fire hydrant.
- fire hydrant on the corner
- There is a fire hydrant on the corner of our street.
- connect a hose to a fire hydrant
- The crew connected a hose to the fire hydrant and began spraying water.
- paint a fire hydrant
- The city workers painted the fire hydrant bright yellow.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hydrant
- A short form of the same word; it can also refer to any water outlet, but in everyday use it usually means a fire hydrant.
Word family
- hydrant noun
- A pipe or outlet that supplies water, especially for fighting fires.
Commonly confused: fire hydrant or fire extinguisher?
fire hydrant vs fire extinguisher
A portable device you point at a small fire to put it out; a fire hydrant is a fixed street pipe that supplies water to fire hoses.
Practice
The fire truck stopped next to the ___ and the crew jumped out.
Choose one answer.
A fire hydrant is the street water source that firefighters use, so it fits here. A fire extinguisher is a portable device, a fire alarm warns of fire, and a fire escape is a way out of a building.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “fire hydrant”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.