Meanings
plural misfires
- An act of misfiring.
- figurativelyA 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, →ISSN1 more example
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
present singular third person misfires · participle present misfiring · participle past misfired · past misfired
- engineeringTo fail to discharge properly.
- To initiate an action potential without the proper stimulus.
- broadlyTo fail to achieve the anticipated result.
His practical joke misfired and he nearly burnt my left hand.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Either a univerbation of earlier miss fire, or the compound mis- + fire (or possibly a confluence of both).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 失火
- 失火 (shīhuǒ)To fail to ignite in the proper sequence
Czech střílet
- stříletTo fail to ignite in the proper sequence
French s'enrayer, caler
- s'enrayerTo fail to discharge properly
- calerTo fail to ignite in the proper sequence
German Fehlzündung, fehlzünden
- FehlzündungAn act of misfiring
- fehlzündenTo fail to ignite in the proper sequence
- fehlschlagenTo fail to achieve the anticipated result
Greek αστοχώ
- αστοχώ (astochó)To fail to discharge properly
Irish loiceadh, loic
- loiceadhAn act of misfiring
- loicTo fail to discharge properly
Italian incepparsi
- incepparsiTo fail to discharge properly
Russian осе́чка, осечься
- осе́чка (oséčka)An act of misfiring
- осечься (osečʹsja)To fail to discharge properly
Spanish encendido defectuoso, fallo de encendido
- encendido defectuosoTo fail to ignite in the proper sequence
- fallo de encendidoTo fail to ignite in the proper sequence
Swedish feltändning, snedtändning
- feltändningTo fail to ignite in the proper sequence
- snedtändningTo fail to ignite in the proper sequence
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with misfire
Cite this entry
misfire. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misfire
“misfire.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misfire. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “misfire,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/misfire.
Source: misfire on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.