near miss

noun

variants or less commonly near-miss

1

a

: a miss (as with a bomb) close enough to cause damage

b

: something that falls just short of success

2

a

: a near collision (as between aircraft)

b

: close call

Synonyms of near miss

• narrow escape
• close call
• hairbreadth escape
• close shave
• near escape

Examples of near miss in a Sentence

After years of near misses, the team has finally won a championship.

a near miss with death prompted him to give up skydiving

Recent Examples on the Web

The teams traded chances, goals were called offside and there were near misses before Portugal finally broke through and tied the match up. — Ashley Mowreader, NBC news, 3 July 2026

After several heartbreaking near misses, rescue finally came on the fourth night when crewmember Leslie McNish spotted a distant vessel. — Virginia Chamlee, PEOPLE, 1 July 2026

In 2025, 55 near misses between a commercial passenger jet and a drone were anonymously reported. — Suzanne Rowan Kelleher, Forbes.com, 29 June 2026

Sučić helped Croatia take a 1-0 lead into halftime in a game where a couple of near misses prevented it from building a more comfortable lead. — CBS News, 27 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1940, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for near miss

• abyss
• amiss
• chlamys
• dismiss
• premiss
• remiss
• bis
• bliss
• criss
• dis
• diss
• hiss