Synonyms of misfiring

misfiring

verb

present participle of misfire

as in failing

to go wrong

their scheme to rob the bank misfired disastrously and landed them all in jail

Synonyms & Similar Words

• failing
• stalling
• falling short
• missing
• falling flat
• miscarrying
• dying
• flopping
• struggling
• crashing
• coming to grief
• coming a cropper
• foundering
• floundering
• folding
• flunking
• slumping
• fizzling
• skidding
• bombing
• slipping
• waning
• busting
• washing out
• tanking
• declining
• breaking down
• flaming out
• conking (out)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• succeeding
• prevailing
• thriving
• flourishing
• prospering

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of misfiring

The second worker was clipped in the jaw by a misfiring nail gun. — Kevin Kruse, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026

Manchester United The disappointment of 2024-25 was somewhat rectified by a summer spent remodelling a misfiring attack. — Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 21 May 2026

The Celtics fell into an early 11-4 hole while misfiring on seven of their first nine shots. — Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 1 May 2026

Omega-3 fatty acids work by preventing the inflammatory response from misfiring, per Koff. — Kirsten Nunez, Martha Stewart, 5 Apr. 2026

While Heinrich ponders the misfiring neurons in the brain of a mass shooter, Jack’s pursuit of Mink—a character whose skin color and ambiguous ethnicity Jack remarks on repeatedly—leads him directly into the urban teeth of the War on Drugs. — Literary Hub, 1 Apr. 2026

Medication can help but the main treatment is ablation, when doctors thread catheters to the heart to burn misfiring tissue. — ABC News, 1 Apr. 2026

Then came the shot the crowd had been waiting for as the Pioneer had been misfiring all night from 3-point land. — Jerry McDonald, Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2026

Given Young’s music centers around modern, misfiring romance, the statement was unexpected. — Ramon Ramirez, Austin American Statesman, 13 Mar. 2026