as in collapsed
to have the reverse of the desired or expected effect
the well-meaning gesture boomeranged, since he ended up being offended by it
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Recent Examples of boomeranged
The wild part is how quickly that creator theme boomeranged back at us in real time.
—
Dana Harris-Bridson, IndieWire, 16 Dec. 2025
The most blatant of those on Sunday was Kelce converting a great opportunity into a play that boomeranged the other way.
—Kansas City Star, 15 Sep. 2025
Dana Harris-Bridson, IndieWire, 16 Dec. 2025
The most blatant of those on Sunday was Kelce converting a great opportunity into a play that boomeranged the other way.
—Kansas City Star, 15 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for boomeranged
Verb
-
Photo by Anne Arundel County Fire Department In Harford County, crews rescued four cows, a bull and a horse after a barn collapsed.—
Mike Hellgren,
CBS News,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Sutton said Minneapolis policing has collapsed since the 2020 unrest, noting the city is authorized for about 900 officers but now has roughly 550, with only around 265 patrol officers available to police the entire city.—
Stepheny Price , Ashley Papa,
FOXNews.com,
27 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
But within a day, the entire hypothesis flopped.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Jan. 2026
-
Before us, in a curtain of matte black against the vibrant green, a beautiful, enormous silverback lays flopped on his back surrounded by eight gorillas of all ages wrestling around him.—
Condé Nast Traveler,
Condé Nast Traveler,
22 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Greenberg said those attacks backfired.—
Nik Popli,
Time,
28 Jan. 2026
-
In fact, that summit seemed initially to have backfired for Russia, with Trump growing increasingly frustrated with Moscow’s intransigence.—
Clare Sebastian,
CNN Money,
27 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Boomeranged.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/boomeranged. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
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