miss1
/mɪs
/verb [with object]
1Fail to hit, reach, or come into contact with (something aimed at): a laser-guided bomb had missed its target [no object]: he shot twice at the cashier, but missed both times...
- She lashed out at him now, her arms and legs flailing wildly, her kicks and punches missing their target by a considerable margin.
- But unfortunately for him, the bomb missed the target and exploded on the street.
- Even if a Japanese bomb missed its target, it was likely to find something worth blowing up.
1.1Pass by without touching; chance not to hit: the plane narrowly missed the control tower...
- The bullet narrowly missed her spine and passed through her body before lodging in Scott's left thigh.
- Although the plane narrowly missed the Relais Bleu hotel, it completely destroyed the Hotelissmo next door.
- First his family sought refuge in an abandoned building, narrowly missing two land mines.
Synonyms
fail to hit, be wide of, go wide of, fall short of
1.2Fail to catch (something thrown or dropped): Mandy missed the catch, and flung the ball back crossly [no object]: Callison tried for a catch and missed...
- I even scored on the next play when the first baseman missed the throw from third.
- Apparently, a ways back, one of their players was bit by the wolf after missing a pass and rolling out of bounds.
- Krista misses the bullet pass and the pro-sized foot ball ricochets off the far fence and into the gutter.
Synonyms
fail to catch, drop, fumble, fluff, bungle, mishandle, misfield, mishit
2Fail to notice, hear, or understand: the villa is impossible to miss—it’s right by the road these questions miss the point...
- We miss the point that the point of listening is just to listen.
- What Matt said in his last statement contains some good points but a lot of folks still miss the point about globalization.
- The critics who protest that he hasn't consulted the most recent speculations on the origins of life miss the point.
Synonyms
fail to hear, fail to take in, mishear, misunderstand
fail to see/notice, overlook, pass over, forget
2.1Fail to attend, participate in, or watch (something one is expected to do or habitually does): Teague looks certain to miss England’s match against Fiji...
- University courses are routinely recorded and put online for students who miss class or for those who cannot afford to attend full time.
- He was expected to miss the first two matches, against Sri Lanka on Thursday and India on Saturday, but it looks as though he may face an even longer lay-off.
- This way the student who misses class for a field trip or a university sponsored event is not penalized as long as said student is regular in attendance the rest of the semester.
Synonyms
fail to attend, be too late for, absent oneself from, be absent from, play truant from, take French leave from, cut, skip, omit
British informal skive off
2.2Be too late to catch (a passenger vehicle or the post): we’ll miss the train if he doesn’t hurry...
- The scheme includes a pledge that if a passenger misses a bus because it is running more than one minute early they will be able to claim back a free ticket.
- I had just missed some vehicles which were going to Mporokoso and so I had to jump on a private light truck.
- Well, if you let me see your ticket, I'll make sure you two girls get on the right train so you don't miss your ferry.
Synonyms
be too late for, fail to catch/get
2.3Fail to see or have a meeting with (someone): ‘Potter’s been here this morning?’ ‘You’ve just missed him.’...
- It seemed everyone was going to be late to work, miss a big meeting, miss a guest coming in from out of town.
2.4Not be able to experience or fail to take advantage of (an opportunity or chance): don’t miss the chance to visit the breathtaking Dolomites [no object]: he failed to recover from a leg injury and missed out on a trip to Barcelona...
- Looking back, are there any opportunities you missed out on that you can see now but didn't realize then?
- The anti-war protests had been organised as an opportunity for those who missed out on the 1.5 million strong march in London last month.
- If they moved away, they lost rights to cheaper education and missed out on job opportunities.
Synonyms
fail to take advantage of, fail to seize/grasp/take, let slip, let go/pass, forfeit, pass up, lose out on, overlook, disregard
2.5Avoid; escape: Christmas shoppers go out early to miss the crowds
Synonyms
avoid, beat, evade, escape, dodge, sidestep, elude, get round, circumvent, steer clear of, give a wide berth to, find a way round, bypass, skirt, cheat, duck
2.6(Of a woman) fail to have (a monthly period): how many periods have you missed? [no object]: I think I’m pregnant—this is the second time I’ve missed...
- The embryo has actually implanted before the woman misses her first period.
- At this four-week point, the woman may miss her first period, and may have a positive pregnancy test.
- Pregnancy tests are very accurate and can usually detect pregnancy from the time a woman misses her first period - approximately two weeks after conception.
Synonyms
leave out, exclude, fail to include, except, miss, miss off, fail to mention, pass over, skip
British informal give something a miss
3 (miss someone/thing out) British Fail to include someone or something; omit: I’m sure Guy will fill in any bits I missed out...
- The waiters were clumsy to the extent of walking in to people and dropping things, and forgetful, missing people out when pouring wine.
- If I have missed your blog out, having promised you a link, please drop me a line and I'll sort it out.
- When we were at the event and they got to the top ten I thought we had been missed out, so it was a surprise for us to come fourth.
4Notice the loss or absence of: he’s rich—he won’t miss the money she slipped away when she thought she wouldn’t be missed...
- Jim Lauchlan's absence was not missed as Sean Hessey also kept it tight in the middle.
- We hadn't missed the money we were paying the lawn service, but we noticed it when we stopped.
- That's the thing the media has never asked: didn't you miss the money?
Synonyms
notice the absence of, find missing
4.1Feel regret or sadness at no longer being able to enjoy the presence of: she misses all her old friends...
- Old stock of the area, he will be sadly missed by family members and friends.
- He will be sadly missed and deeply mourned by his sorrowing family.
- He will be sadly missed and greatly mourned by his sorrowing family and friends.
Synonyms
pine for, yearn for, ache for, long for, long to see, regret the absence/loss of, feel the loss of, feel nostalgic for, need
4.2Feel regret or sadness at no longer being able to go to, do, or have: I still miss France and I wish I could go back...
- Yes, I still craved my bread and missed my orange juice.
- Ok, I missed the bread and coffee but it still went down well.
- I really, really miss the smell of bread baking.
5 [no object] (Of an engine or motor vehicle) undergo failure of ignition in one or more cylinders: the motor began missing and investigation found a cracked cylinder head...
- I was just looking for the entry form in the paper when the plane's engine started missing and spluttering.
- A Barnes technician could even hear the engine missing over his cellphone.
noun
1A failure to hit, catch, or reach something: the penalty miss cost us the game...
- And then Ulster paid the penalty for those misses when the Saints again paid a rare visit upfield for Grayson to level with an angled kick.
- It was a dreadful miss and certainly proved a costly one.
- Ten minutes from the end King made up for his dreadful miss with a terrific right-foot curler which sailed into the top corner.
Synonyms
failure, omission, slip, blunder, error, mistake, fiasco
informal flop
1.1An unsuccessful record or film: it is the public who decide whether a film is a hit or a miss...
- With the band stretching out into extended jams with re-arranged tempos and rhythms, the misses occur much less often than you might imagine.
- There are a few misses here too, though the biggest problem is that the LP's uniformity, which makes some tracks seem less than engaging.
- A filmmaker with as many misses as hits, like all great producers, Korda knew that to get ahead in the film business, you had to spend other people's money.
Phrases
give something a miss
miss a beat
miss the boat (or bus)
a miss is as good as a mile
not miss a trick
Derivatives
missable
- This is quality drama, intelligent, witty and interesting, but hardly sold at all, easily missable and lost on a digital channel.
- I'm about as missable as, oooh, an office block, say.
- Nor were any of the full-back's seven successful kicks particularly difficult, the conversion of his own try being the only one at any sort of missable angle.
Origin
Old English missan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German missen.
To miss, meaning ‘to fail to hit’, goes back to Old English. On the surface of it the proverb a miss is as good as a mile is puzzling. The original longer form, from the early 17th century, is clearer: an inch in a miss is as good as an ell (an ell is an old measure of distance, see bow). As a title for a young girl or an unmarried woman miss is a shortening of mistress (Middle English), which itself is from the same Old French root as master (see magistrate).
Rhymes
miss2
/mɪs/noun
1 (Miss) A title prefixed to the name of an unmarried woman or girl, or to that of a married woman retaining her maiden name for professional purposes: Miss Hazel Armstrong...
- Good morning, Misses Wessons and Mister Linwood.
- Hello Mister and Misses customer, how may I help you two today?
- The New York Times, for example, stopped using titles like Mrs and Miss with the names of women.
1.1Used in the title of the winner in a beauty contest: Miss World...
- The Miss Artificial Beauty contest, aka Miss Plastic Surgery is over.
- Imagine, in Botswana they are having a beauty contest to choose Miss HIV!
- A Miss Congeniality Beauty Pageant will be held on 30 September at the Waterford Crystal Social Centre, Cork Road, from 8 till late.
1.2Used as a polite form of address to a young woman or to a waitress or female shop assistant: ‘Where will you be staying in England, miss?’ asked the Immigration man...
- ‘Hello there Miss, what can I get you,’ the girl asked cheerfully.
- Hello, my name's Belinda and what would you like to have today Sir, Miss?
- The security guard addressed her repeatedly with an annoying ‘You okay, Miss?’
1.3British Used by children in addressing a female teacher: please, Miss, can I be excused hockey?...
- My impertinent classmate chimed in: ‘What, Miss, is a good mark for a parachute packer?’
- To those who stay, all instructors will be addressed as Mister or Miss.
- It's all about education, education, education - and by the way, Miss, the dog ate my homework?
2A girl or young woman, especially one regarded as silly or headstrong: there was none of the country bumpkin about this young miss...
- It is at this site that I found the young miss pictured here.
- I spoke only half in jest when I said that the young miss might tell us something of history.
- Anyway, if the young miss above should visit, she'd fit right in!
Synonyms
young woman, young lady, girl, schoolgirl, slip of a girl;
girlie, missy, lass, maiden, maid;
nymphet, belle, baby doll;
Scottish lassie;
Irish colleen
informal babe, chick, bit, doll, teenybopper
British informal popsy, bird, bint, poppet
North American informal broad, dame, patootie
Irish informal mot
Australian/New Zealand informal sheila
dated, informal filly, baggage
North American dated, informal bobby-soxer
literary damsel, nymph
archaic or humorous wench
Origin
Mid 17th century: abbreviation of mistress.
miss3
/mɪs/noun informal
A miscarriage: she had a miss, that time, lost the baby
- pseudo-Christianity
- pseudochromaesthesia
- pseudochromesthesia
- pseudochrysolite
- pseudocide
- pseudocirrhosis
- pseudo-classic
- pseudo-classical
- pseudo-classicism
- pseudo-cleft
- pseudo-clefting
- pseudo-cleft sentence
- pseudocode
- pseudocoel
- pseudocoele
- pseudocoelic
- pseudocoelom
- pseudocoelomate
- pseudocolor
- pseudocoloring
- pseudocolour
- pseudocolouring
- pseudocolumella
- pseudocompatibility
- pseudo-concept