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near miss

noun

Definitions

  1. A miss which was nearly a hit or collision.

    • The first wave, 24 dive bombers, fell on her through broken clouds; she took two hits and an uncomfortably close near miss.

  2. A scenario which ends safely but might well have ended in disaster.

    • In recent years there have been two fatalities and one near miss due to the inappropriate use of boom trucks.
    • As in New York City’s Times Square seven months ago, hundreds of innocent bystanders might have been killed. Fortunately, the would-be terrorist was the only fatality.

  3. An attempt which fails narrowly

    An attempt which fails narrowly; a performance which falls just short of a certain benchmark.

    • Dean Chance […] wasn't crying over his near miss of a no-hitter Monday night.
    • Italy know they cannot wallow in the disappointment of last week's agonising near miss against Ireland.
    • After several near misses, Van Persie finally reached three figures by turning in Walcott's cross before Jaaskelainen saved from Walcott when one-on-one.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for near miss. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA