How to Use misfire in a Sentence

misfire

1 of 2 verb
  • The rest of the Suns went 1-of-7, misfiring on four 3s.
    Duane Rankin, The Arizona Republic, 2 May 2023
  • The weapon, which the inmate shouldn't have had, misfired and no one was hurt.
    CBS News, 25 Nov. 2023
  • Then Beal misfired on a 3 attempt from the wing and Gordon grabbed the miss.
    Roy Parry, orlandosentinel.com, 17 Nov. 2019
  • The home team misfired on open shots and high-risk passes.
    Jeff Faraudo, The Mercury News, 6 June 2019
  • On the first night, a sixgill knocked into the speargun, causing it to misfire.
    National Geographic, 5 Sep. 2019
  • Next trip down the floor Mickey Mitchell misfired on a jumper and the Trojans snagged that loose ball as well.
    Michelle Gardner, azcentral, 29 Feb. 2020
  • Cheshire misfired a snap, sending the ball into the end zone and forcing a turnover.
    Sean Begin, courant.com, 4 Dec. 2019
  • Mayfield also misfired on a pass to Jarvis Landry and threw low on the run for David Njoku in the session.
    Scott Patsko, cleveland.com, 27 July 2019
  • Woods found the fairway at the par-5 14th, but misfired his approach into the greenside bunker.
    San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 June 2019
  • Ilsinho turned to shoot, and ended up misfiring the ball to just in front of Sapong.
    Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com, 28 June 2018
  • Nelson and Rodgers misfired on what looked like a sure touchdown on the second drive.
    Jr Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8 Jan. 2020
  • Belinelli misfired on a three-pointer right before the buzzer and the Celtics escaped with the win.
    Keith Pompey, Philly.com, 6 May 2018
  • Aaron Holiday had the final shot to win it but misfired.
    J. Michael, Indianapolis Star, 28 Dec. 2019
  • Play was stopped during the fourth quarter when a T-shirt misfired onto the court during play.
    Michael Marot, charlotteobserver, 10 Apr. 2018
  • Jordan Stout also misfired on a 24-yard punt in the first half on a windy afternoon.
    Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 24 Jan. 2024
  • There’s a bit of sound and character from the V-8 (which seemed to be misfiring a bit, likely due to being cold).
    Basem Wasef, Robb Report, 10 Mar. 2023
  • Both quarterbacks also misfired on a few passes due to the wet ball.
    OrlandoSentinel.com, 15 May 2018
  • The Rockets had spent much of the second half misfiring, but that was not their greatest issue.
    Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle, 9 Feb. 2020
  • Between the targets that keep moving and the care that keeps misfiring, the equation of care in Boyt’s novel doesn’t come out even.
    Jane Hu, The New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2023
  • Tagovailoa also misfired on a throw to the end zone to Jerry Jeudy a few plays later.
    Michael Casagrande | McAsagrande@al.com, al, 14 Oct. 2019
  • However, JJ Redick misfired on a wide-open three-pointer at the top of the key before time expired.
    Keith Pompey, Philly.com, 27 Feb. 2018
  • After scoring Golden State’s first 17 points of the frame, the 23-year-old guard began to misfire while the Lakers refused to go away.
    C.j. Holmes, San Francisco Chronicle, 11 Feb. 2023
  • Better to misfire and course correct than to be absent.
    Eric Alterman, The New Republic, 21 Aug. 2023
  • But DeVito was forced out of the pocket on fourth-and-8 and misfired badly, giving the ball back to Locksley’s team.
    Baltimore Sun Staff, baltimoresun.com, 7 Sep. 2019
  • Your intuition misfires as the moon clashes with Uranus.
    USA TODAY, 8 June 2023
  • Reed misfired long on his approach shot to the final hole and faced a delicate downhill putt.
    Jesse Smithey, Detroit Free Press, 8 Apr. 2018
  • Maybe a couple misfires with his (sinkers), but that's nitpicking with that type of outing.
    Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 12 Mar. 2023
  • Or misfiring on his first 4 looks from 3 as the Pacers quickly went downhill in their worst loss in 33 years to Toronto.
    J. Michael, Indianapolis Star, 28 Feb. 2020
  • Morgan and Tobin Heath pushed time and time again again in the minutes that followed, but either misfired or had shots blocked or saved.
    Alicia Delgallo, Pro Soccer USA, 8 July 2019
  • Such guesswork can misfire — but the tweet caught the attention of people close to Musk, if not the billionaire himself.
    CBS News, 31 Oct. 2022
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misfire

2 of 2 noun
  • The way the rest of the game played out, that misfire proved critical.
    Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 23 Jan. 2022
  • That play ended with a bad misfire to an open Equanimeous St. Brown.
    Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune, 27 Sep. 2022
  • To describe Perry’s 2012 campaign as a misfire for the ages wouldn’t be too much of a stretch.
    Philip Elliott, Time, 13 July 2023
  • The most common is a misfire, or a soft firing pin strike when the trigger is pulled.
    Tyler Freel, Outdoor Life, 26 Feb. 2021
  • Just as kids have to learn to course-correct after a misfire, so do dads!
    Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 21 June 2022
  • The control scheme is intuitive, but the touch surface on the right is far too prone to misfires.
    PCMAG, 5 Feb. 2024
  • Madame Web is one of those rare misfires that prompts one to wonder how it was made in the first place, or who it was even made for.
    Dani Di Placido, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024
  • The pallidness of Carter Burwell’s score, in a rare misfire for him, doesn’t help things any.
    Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Oct. 2022
  • With one more misfire, the window for these Titans and the Super Bowl just got smaller.
    Gentry Estes, USA TODAY, 23 Jan. 2022
  • Lucky for music fans, those early misfires didn’t spell the demise of Casablanca Records.
    Ted Brown, Rolling Stone, 13 Mar. 2023
  • The Jaguars were able to maneuver to the 8-yard line midway through the second quarter but a pass on fourth down to the endzone was a misfire.
    Scott Springer, The Enquirer, 21 Nov. 2020
  • Nerve cells misfire, leading to headache and nausea—the first signs of heat exhaustion.
    Aryn Baker, Time, 26 May 2022
  • That may be a welcome change for 49ers fans, who watched Garoppolo misfire on key throws in the team’s 3-point loss to the Titans last week.
    New York Times, 30 Dec. 2021
  • But can the tech behemoth keep spending big on big-screen misfires?
    Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 5 Feb. 2024
  • No ending with Best Picture (more on that grievous misfire in a bit).
    Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 26 Apr. 2021
  • The controls are easy to use, even with cold fingers, and the Easy Lock bolt does away with the out-of-battery misfire common to inertia guns.
    Phil Bourjaily, Field & Stream, 20 Mar. 2023
  • The biggest misfire of the evening came in a virtual production.
    Tim Diovanni, Dallas News, 3 Sep. 2021
  • But his teammates attributed that misfire more to a wet ball than to rookie nerves.
    Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Jan. 2023
  • The film is, admittedly, pretty bad, a tonal misfire that tanked at the box office.
    Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 25 Feb. 2021
  • On one third-and-5 misfire in the third quarter, Dalton seemed to throw hot toward Goodwin.
    Dan Wiederer, chicagotribune.com, 23 Nov. 2021
  • The miss was just his third errant field goal attempt and fifth misfire (he's missed two extra points) overall.
    Akeem Glaspie, The Indianapolis Star, 23 Nov. 2020
  • Rebeck also wants to use plants—their resilience, their need for space and care—as a metaphor, but this show is a mind-boggling misfire.
    Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2023
  • That, in turn, has allowed the company to take big swings without the fear of the occasional misfire.
    Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 8 Sep. 2021
  • The misfire on Mullens part was not including a large enough buyout.
    John Canzano, oregonlive, 17 Dec. 2020
  • While coasting to the far end of the straightaway after a run, a host of warning messages popped up on the gauge cluster, all tied to a severe misfire.
    Dave Vanderwerp, Car and Driver, 26 Aug. 2022
  • Something similar might be at play with the NPD and Grassroots misfire.
    Marc Peruzzi, Outside Online, 13 Aug. 2021
  • Universal endured a few misfires as well, but none were as painful.
    Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 2 Jan. 2024
  • All this means there is plenty of potential for misfires.
    S. Shyam Sundar, Fortune, 3 Apr. 2023
  • The misfires were striking in that Herbert’s career to date has been marked by accuracy and a strong bond with Allen.
    Jeff Miller, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2023
  • Another was the fourth-and-15 misfire to Mooney on a pass that had to be thrown deeper out of necessity.
    Dan Wiederer, chicagotribune.com, 14 Sep. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'misfire.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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