Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
×

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

See What's Trending Now See More Trending Words

Thesaurus

near miss

noun

Synonyms and Antonyms of near miss

  1. a barely successful escape from something undesirable a near miss with death prompted him to give up skydiving Synonyms close shave, close callRelated Words squeakerNear Antonyms misfire

Indulge Your Inner Word Nerd

young-plant-shoots
Merriam-Webster's New Words Quiz—Fall 2017 Edition!
alt-59c448f88ea38
Trending: Kim Jong Un: Trump a 'Dotard'
video-title-words-of-the-year-1066
Words of the Year: 1066
alt-59cabc6d7aa91
How 'Premises' Came to Mean 'Property'

Learn More about near miss

  1. See words that rhyme with near miss Dictionary: Definition of near miss Nglish: Translation of near miss for Spanish speakers

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up near miss? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show hide

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

WORD OF THE DAY

broadside

play

a strongly worded attack

Get Word of the Day daily email!

TRENDING NOW

  1. dotage, dotard a state or period of senile decay

  2. otherwise "in other respects"

  3. federalism Graham says bill gives power to states

  4. bodega "Don’t mess with the beloved bodega."

  5. carceral Of, relating to, or suggesting a jail or prison

SEE ALL

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play

alt-59cabc6d7aa91
How 'Premises' Came to Mean 'Property'

It goes back to the beginning

image961678022
10 Uncommon Words for 'Drunkard'

Tosspots, stewbums, and all the rest

alt-59c94ad823f29
'Meat Sweats': The Cookout's Worst Nightmare

They're real, but is meat the cause?

alt-59c919f342079
'Diffuse' vs. 'Defuse'

Let us defuse the situation.

Ask the Editors

video-title-words-of-the-year-1066
Words of the Year: 1066

Or, Why Pig Meat is Called 'Pork' and Cow Meat is Called 'Beef'

payday
How Often Is 'Biweekly'?

Don't get us started on 'bimonthly'

video-irregardless-grammar-peeve-blend-of-the-synonyms-irrespective-and-regardless
Irregardless

It is in fact a real word (but that doesn't mean you should use it).

video-moose-goose-weird-plurals
Weird Plurals

One goose, two geese. One moose, two... moose. What's up with that?

Word Games

young-plant-shoots
Merriam-Webster's New Words Quiz—Fall 2017 Edition!

You're going to have to memorize the dictionary again.

Take the quiz
stylized-drawing-of-woman-pole-vaulting-across-gap-to-get-trophy
Challenging Vocabulary Quiz Returns!

No tricks, just difficult words.

Take the quiz
Spell It
Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Take the quiz
Word Winder's CrossWinder
Word Winder's CrossWinder

A game of winding words.

Play the game