as in narrow escape
a barely successful escape from something undesirable
a near miss with death prompted him to give up skydiving
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Recent Examples of near miss
Their near miss underscores the threat to ships and local communities as retreating glaciers destabilize the landscape.
—
Megan I. Gannon, Scientific American, 6 May 2026
Consider this near miss one of James’ greatest postseason achievements.
—Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2026
The misses were just near misses.
—Katie Woo, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2026
This, Wright imagined, was one way Proxi might display its analysis of players’ minds, an aerial map of loves, phobias, triumphs, losses, pets, and near misses plus all the associations connecting them.
—Eric Boodman, Vulture, 25 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for near miss
Megan I. Gannon, Scientific American, 6 May 2026
Consider this near miss one of James’ greatest postseason achievements.
—Los Angeles Times, 2 May 2026
The misses were just near misses.
—Katie Woo, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2026
This, Wright imagined, was one way Proxi might display its analysis of players’ minds, an aerial map of loves, phobias, triumphs, losses, pets, and near misses plus all the associations connecting them.
—Eric Boodman, Vulture, 25 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for near miss
Recent Examples of Synonyms for near miss
Noun
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All-in-all, the Airbus and airliners have had a very close call.—
Christopher McFadden,
Interesting Engineering,
30 Nov. 2025
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The Thunder started the season with a pair of double-overtime wins and had some close calls before finally losing to Portland.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
20 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Speaking of a close shave, Cincinnati couldn't decide a winner between No 5.—
Rasputin Todd,
Cincinnati Enquirer,
10 Mar. 2026
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Last week, for example, a satellite recently deployed by a Chinese rocket gave a Starlink spacecraft a close shave, apparently without providing the proper warning ahead of time.—
Mike Wall,
Space.com,
18 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Near miss.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/near%20miss. Accessed 17 Jun. 2026.
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