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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

misfire en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈmɪs.faɪ(ɹ)/
  • (Southern-England) audio
  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˈmɪs.faɪ.ɚ/ (General-American)

Etymology

Either a univerbation of earlier miss fire, or the compound mis- + fire (or possibly a confluence of both).

Meanings

  1. An act of misfiring.
  2. (figuratively) A failure.
    • Amazon’s misfires with Alexa may have led Google astray, said a former manager who worked on Google Assistant. 2023 March 15, Brian X. Chen, Nico Grant, Karen Weise, “How Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant Lost the A.I. Race”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
    • The fact is, Mr Carrados, Gertrude is a misfire. It was the surprise of her life (if I said "disappointment" you'd think me catty) when Mark married me, and she didn't set out to be pleasant to the interloper. 1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
misfires Number=Plur lexicographic

Translations (3)

ga loiceadh (An act of misfiring) · de Fehlzündung (An act of misfiring) · ru осе́чка (An act of misfiring)

misfire en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • /mɪsˈfaɪ(ɹ)/
  • (Southern-England) audio
  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˈmɪs.faɪ.ɚ/ (General-American)

Etymology

Either a univerbation of earlier miss fire, or the compound mis- + fire (or possibly a confluence of both).

Meanings

  1. To fail to discharge properly.
  2. (of an engine) To fail to ignite in the proper sequence.
  3. (of a nerve or neuron) To initiate an action potential without the proper stimulus.
  4. (broadly) To fail to achieve the anticipated result.
    • His practical joke misfired and he nearly burnt my left hand.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
misfired Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
misfired Tense=Past lexicographic
misfiring Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
misfires Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Deriveds

misfirer

Relateds

back fire · hang fire · backfire

Translations (15)

de fehlschlagen (To fail to achieve the anticipated result) · fr s'enrayer (To fail to discharge properly) · el αστοχώ (To fail to discharge properly) · de fehlzünden (To fail to ignite in the proper sequence) · cmn 失火 (To fail to ignite in the proper sequence) · sv snedtändning (To fail to ignite in the proper sequence) · es encendido defectuoso (To fail to ignite in the proper sequence) · es fallo de encendido (To fail to ignite in the proper sequence) · ga loic (To fail to discharge properly) · sv feltändning (To fail to ignite in the proper sequence) · it incepparsi (To fail to discharge properly) · cs střílet (To fail to ignite in the proper sequence) · az ilişdirmək (To fail to discharge properly) · fr caler (To fail to ignite in the proper sequence) · ru осечься (To fail to discharge properly)