Firing on all cylinders

If you hear the idiom firing on all cylinders, it means that all the members of a team are doing their utmost to work hard.

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English Idiom: Firing on all cylinders

If you hear the idiom firing on all cylinders at your workplace, it means people are doing their best work.


This phrase refers to a part of an engine.

The cylinder is where fuel is burned.

Usually, engines have more than one cylinder, and if they are all operating correctly, the motor works as hard as possible.

It’s better to use today’s idiom when talking about a team.

One person would only represent one cylinder, which doesn’t sound very impressive.

Schools have opened again for the start of a new academic year in Japan, and I am sure teachers’ rooms across the country are firing on all cylinders.


This post is understandable by someone with at least an 8th-grade education (age 13 – 14).

On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 67.

The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.



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