as in to fail
to go wrong
their scheme to rob the bank misfired disastrously and landed them all in jail
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in catastrophe
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of misfire
Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 4 Jan. 2026
Others misfired when momentum reversed, financing dried up or leverage cut the wrong way.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 29 Dec. 2025
Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 25 Nov. 2025
By Deborah Brennan, CalMatters California lawmakers are demanding answers after a live fire demonstration over Camp Pendleton Saturday led to a misfire that rained shrapnel on Interstate 5, striking two California Highway Patrol vehicles.
—Calmatters, Mercury News, 23 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for misfire
Verb
Mayfield completed his first six passes before misfiring on a cross-field, 13-yard toss to Payne Durham, who was wide open in the end zone.
—Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 4 Jan. 2026
Others misfired when momentum reversed, financing dried up or leverage cut the wrong way.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 29 Dec. 2025
Noun
Bill Self had seen enough after watching sophomore big man Flory Bidunga misfire on three inside shots and also fail to prevent a pair of inside buckets in the early moments of Kansas’ Players Era opener against Notre Dame on Monday at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
—Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 25 Nov. 2025
By Deborah Brennan, CalMatters California lawmakers are demanding answers after a live fire demonstration over Camp Pendleton Saturday led to a misfire that rained shrapnel on Interstate 5, striking two California Highway Patrol vehicles.
—Calmatters, Mercury News, 23 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for misfire
Recent Examples of Synonyms for misfire
Verb
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Previous attempts at a temporary truce between Russia and Ukraine have all failed to hold.—
Hira Humayun,
CNN Money,
30 Jan. 2026
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Close-range finishing The Bulls relied heavily on their 3-point shooting in Thursday’s loss as shots failed to fall inside the arc.—
Julia Poe,
Chicago Tribune,
30 Jan. 2026
Noun
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For decades the capital had worked like a slowly exploding atom bomb, inhaling poor Filipinos from the provinces and spitting them into distant suburbs, transforming rural barangays into slums of concrete and zinc.—
Sean Williams,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
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These are the investors most likely to make a big move when a tape bomb hits.—
Josh Brown,Sean Russo,
CNBC,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Once there, the woman said she was left in a room, alone, to miscarry without water or medical assistance for more than 24 hours.—
Lautaro Grinspan,
AJC.com,
26 Jan. 2026
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Around the same time the following year, Hayley miscarried.—
Brianne Tracy,
PEOPLE,
21 Jan. 2026
Noun
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If, on the other hand, the movie flops, Jeff Bezos better start looking into $400 million airliners.—
Benjamin Svetkey,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Jan. 2026
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While Boone did as many as 30 flips during the ad shoot, says Jones, Stiller’s dangerous flops were really the work of stunt personnel, one of whom fell onto a foam drum kit that was constructed with the use of a 3-D printer.—
Brian Steinberg,
Variety,
28 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Union leaders are now able to call a strike if negotiations continue to stall.—
Howard Blume,
Los Angeles Times,
31 Jan. 2026
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But efforts to enact tougher oversight have stalled in Sacramento.—
Jemma Stephenson,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
31 Jan. 2026
Noun
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The second half of the series is Ben Kingsley reprising his role as Trevor Slattery, the actor character who played The Mandarin in Iron Man 3, attempting to redeem himself after that fiasco.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
23 Jan. 2026
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The parking meter fiasco has been back in the news this week because that original consortium put the deal up for sale and why not?—
The Editorial Board,
Chicago Tribune,
22 Jan. 2026
Noun
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That last-minute development is reviving debate about the extent of state support for Vanke, one of the last major developers to have avoided an outright default after a broader property market slump sparked record debt failures in recent years.—
Bloomberg News,
Bloomberg,
28 Jan. 2026
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Poetry is a testament to the failure of wolves.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Expectations going up after two straight Playoff washouts.—
Jason Kirk,
New York Times,
16 Jan. 2026
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In optimal conditions, most vehicles can make it, but high clearance is strongly recommended—especially in winter and after storms, when washouts, flooding, or snow accumulation are possible.—
Taryn Shorr-Mckee,
Travel + Leisure,
12 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Misfire.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/misfire. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
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