miss
Forms
- present (v1)
- miss
- past (v2)
- missed
- past participle (v3)
- missed
- present participle
- missing
- 3rd person singular
- misses
- Plural
- misses
Definitions
1.To fail to hit, catch, grasp, etc.
- I tried to kick the ball, but missed.
- I fired the gun, but the bullet missed the target.
- Men observe when things hit, and not when they miss.
2.To avoid hitting.
- The driver swerved and just managed to miss the chicken crossing the road.
3.To fail to achieve or attain.
- The company missed all its sales targets.
- When a man misses his great end, happiness, he will acknowledge he judged not right.
4.To fail to experience, attend, partake, take advantage of, etc.
- This offer is too good to miss.
- Joe missed the meeting this morning.
- I'm starving! I missed breakfast this morning.
1.A failure to physically hit.
- In eight shots at the target he had six misses.
- "I ran from one place to another, and as it was not difficult to get a shot at him, I fired several times, but only made miss after miss."
2.A failure to obtain or accomplish something; a failure to succeed.
- Your answer isn't exactly right, but it's a very close miss.
- After four top-ten singles, the band's next release was a miss.
- Jones put the penalty shot over the bar, what a terrible miss.
3.An act of avoidance (usually used with the verb give).
- I think I’ll give the meeting a miss.
4.Someone or something whose loss or absence is felt.(informal)
- Top striker Smith is out injured and will be a big miss for United.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #596
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Common
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Etymology
Verb from Middle English missen, from Old English missan (“to miss, escape the notice of a person”), from Proto-West Germanic *missijan, from Proto-Germanic *missijaną (“to miss, go wrong, fail”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to change, exchange, trade”). Cognate with West Frisian misse (“to miss”), Dutch missen (“to miss”), German missen (“to miss”), Norwegian Bokmål and Danish miste (“to lose”), Swedish missa (“to miss”), Norwegian Nynorsk, Icelandic missa (“to lose”) and Latin mittere (“to send, let go”).