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

Objects in space have crashed, or had near misses, in the past. — Jackie Wattles, CNN Money, 22 July 2026

Traditional safety management depends on people remembering to log a near miss, document an unsafe condition or complete an incident report after a long shift. — Harmjan Derksen, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026

In the weeks that follow, these frustrating near misses pile up all across the city. — Literary Hub, 15 July 2026

Amid its six-shot flurry in the initial 10 minutes, Belgium created one golden chance that was a near miss. — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 July 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