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
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
In the world of prestigious awards, some names are synonymous with near misses.
—
Brendan Rascius
july 10, Miami Herald, 10 July 2025
While crashes of this magnitude are rare, recent years have shown a growing trend of near misses at airports across the country.
—Beck Andrew Salgado, Austin American Statesman, 4 July 2025
And there were many, many near misses where the popular vote loser almost became president, making many such future instances a statistical certainty.
—Stephen Legomsky, The Conversation, 17 June 2025
There has also been a series of near misses and runway incursions and, over the past two weeks, controllers overseeing traffic at Newark Liberty International Airport lost radar communications with airplanes on three separate occasions.
—Suzanne Rowan Kelleher, Forbes.com, 15 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for near miss
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Brendan Rascius
july 10, Miami Herald, 10 July 2025
While crashes of this magnitude are rare, recent years have shown a growing trend of near misses at airports across the country.
—Beck Andrew Salgado, Austin American Statesman, 4 July 2025
And there were many, many near misses where the popular vote loser almost became president, making many such future instances a statistical certainty.
—Stephen Legomsky, The Conversation, 17 June 2025
There has also been a series of near misses and runway incursions and, over the past two weeks, controllers overseeing traffic at Newark Liberty International Airport lost radar communications with airplanes on three separate occasions.
—Suzanne Rowan Kelleher, Forbes.com, 15 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for near miss
Cite this Entry
“Near miss.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/near%20miss. Accessed 16 Jul. 2025.
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