missed; missing; misses
1
: to fail to hit, reach, or contact
miss the target
2
: to fail to perform or attend
had to miss school for a week
3
: to leave out : omit
in such a hurry that he missed his breakfast
4
: to discover or feel the absence of
missed his wallet as soon as he entered the store
5
: to fail to comprehend, sense, or experience
missed the point of the speech
7
: to fail to obtain
ignorance misses the best things in this life—
W. R. Inge
W. R. Inge1
: to fail to hit something
took another cut at the ball but missed again
2
a
: to be unsuccessful
such a fine prospect that he can't miss
b
: misfire
the engine missed
3
archaic
: to fail to get, reach, or do something
1
a
: a failure to hit
b
: a failure to attain a desired result
2
: misfire
3
chiefly dialectal
: disadvantage or regret resulting from loss
we know the miss of you, and even hunger … to see you—Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson1
capitalized
a
—used as a title prefixed to the name of an unmarried woman or girl
b
—used before the name of a place or of a line of activity or before some epithet to form a title for a usually young unmarried female who is representative of the thing indicated
Miss America
2
: young lady
—used without a name as a conventional term of address to a young woman
3
: a young unmarried woman or girl
4
misses plural
: a clothing size for women of average height and build
Synonyms
Examples of miss in a Sentence
Verb
He swung and missed the ball completely.
The shot missed the goal by inches.
The batter swung and missed.
She took three shots and missed every time.
I would hate to miss this opportunity.
She could have joined us, but she missed her chance.
They missed a payment on their car loan.
He was in such a hurry that he missed breakfast.
Recent Examples on the WebGabrielle Rockson, Peoplemag, 17 Apr. 2024
The search continues Wednesday for two missing kayakers last seen by witnesses in the White River near the Belmont Beach area.
—Sarah Nelson, The Indianapolis Star, 17 Apr. 2024
More than 76,000 Palestinians have been injured and thousands more are missing, the Health Ministry said.
—Christopher Cann, USA TODAY, 17 Apr. 2024
Curry, Green and Klay Thompson were mostly healthy all year, and the Warriors still missed the playoffs.
—Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 17 Apr. 2024
Investigators say his family reported him missing that morning.
—Mark Price, Miami Herald, 17 Apr. 2024
Since the cicadas emerge all at once, their sound is hard to miss, but the CDC advises folks not to fret.
—Solcyré Burga, TIME, 17 Apr. 2024
If one of the most popular memes goes missing from Twitter, would anyone notice?
—Jack Dunn, Variety, 17 Apr. 2024
The Warriors will be missing defensive stalwart Gary Payton II, who is out with a left calf strain.
—Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 16 Apr. 2024
Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 27 Mar. 2024
Reasons for those misses include unclear objectives, poor integration with office culture, and lack of leadership accountability.
—Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 4 Apr. 2024
The first quarter was played at a frenetic pace, but that also produced plenty of misses.
—Rudy Chinchilla, NBC News, 2 Apr. 2024
Many Blake Lively fans think her latest Instagram joke was a rare miss.
—Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 16 Mar. 2024
There were obvious misses, such as a lack of robust user testing needed to catch what would turn out to be dozens of major technical problems.
—Zach Montague, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2024
But there have been misses, including last year’s Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody ($59 million) and the 2021 Aretha Franklin biopic Respect ($32 million).
—Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Feb. 2024
But Austin Reaves’ driving basket with 24 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter was followed by Poole’s miss with less than two seconds left and sent the game to overtime.
—Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2024
The lack of accountability between HR and management was a major miss.
—Kathleen Lucente, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024
Verb
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
—Gabrielle Rockson, Peoplemag, 17 Apr. 2024
The search continues Wednesday for two missing kayakers last seen by witnesses in the White River near the Belmont Beach area.
—Sarah Nelson, The Indianapolis Star, 17 Apr. 2024
More than 76,000 Palestinians have been injured and thousands more are missing, the Health Ministry said.
—Christopher Cann, USA TODAY, 17 Apr. 2024
Curry, Green and Klay Thompson were mostly healthy all year, and the Warriors still missed the playoffs.
—Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 17 Apr. 2024
Investigators say his family reported him missing that morning.
—Mark Price, Miami Herald, 17 Apr. 2024
Since the cicadas emerge all at once, their sound is hard to miss, but the CDC advises folks not to fret.
—Solcyré Burga, TIME, 17 Apr. 2024
If one of the most popular memes goes missing from Twitter, would anyone notice?
—Jack Dunn, Variety, 17 Apr. 2024
The Warriors will be missing defensive stalwart Gary Payton II, who is out with a left calf strain.
—Jason Anderson, Sacramento Bee, 16 Apr. 2024
Noun
Wiggins aggressively got downhill to answer a Franz Wagner whirling finish, then Moody followed up a miss for a putback slam.
—Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 27 Mar. 2024
Reasons for those misses include unclear objectives, poor integration with office culture, and lack of leadership accountability.
—Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 4 Apr. 2024
The first quarter was played at a frenetic pace, but that also produced plenty of misses.
—Rudy Chinchilla, NBC News, 2 Apr. 2024
Many Blake Lively fans think her latest Instagram joke was a rare miss.
—Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 16 Mar. 2024
There were obvious misses, such as a lack of robust user testing needed to catch what would turn out to be dozens of major technical problems.
—Zach Montague, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2024
But there have been misses, including last year’s Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody ($59 million) and the 2021 Aretha Franklin biopic Respect ($32 million).
—Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Feb. 2024
But Austin Reaves’ driving basket with 24 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter was followed by Poole’s miss with less than two seconds left and sent the game to overtime.
—Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2024
The lack of accountability between HR and management was a major miss.
—Kathleen Lucente, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'miss.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near miss
Cite this Entry
“Miss.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miss. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
miss
1 of 3 verb1
: to fail to hit, catch, reach, or get
miss a target
miss the ball
2
: escape entry 1 sense 2, avoid
just missed being hurt
3
a
: to leave out : omit
missed their lunch
b
: to fail to attend
missed three days of school
4
: to discover or feel the absence of
missed our old friends
5
: to fail to understand, sense, or experience
missed the main point of the story
6
: misfire sense 1
the engine missed
miss
2 of 3 noun1
: a failure to reach a desired goal or result
2
: a failure to fire
miss
3 of 3 noun sense 1 is (ˌ)mis,
məs;
sense 2 is ˈmis
1
a
—used as a title before the name of an unmarried woman or girl
b
—used before the name of a place, an activity, an epithet, or a quality to form a title for a girl who represents the thing indicated
Miss America
Miss Punctuality
2
: a young woman or girl
—used as a term of address
this way, Miss
3
plural
: a clothing size for women of average height and build
Etymology
Verb
Old English missan "to fail to reach or get"
Noun
a shortened form of mistress
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