sure-fire

comparative more sure-fire · superlative most sure-fire · alternative surefire

1. Guaranteed to work or happen.

   That hat should be a sure-fire way to spot him in a crowd.

   3 more examples

   […] just as he knew that showing up for lunch with a brown bag full of dried squirrel jerky and mushrooms and lemongrass was a surefire way to end up social roadkill in the high school hierarchy, […]

   2005, Cory Doctorow, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town

   There certainly looks to be a whole clutch of sure-fire winners among the 11 promised new productions.

   2014 April 29, Andrew Clements, “ENO's 14/15 season: some sure-fire winners, while Coliseum plans will strengthen the company”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   I believe that dismissing people, dismissing their concerns or worse yet, shutting down media, shutting down elections or shutting people out of the political process protects nothing. In fact, it is the most sure-fire way to destroy democracy.

   2025 February 14, JD Vance, “Munich security conference speech in full”, in The Telegraph