near miss

noun

variants or less commonly near-miss
1
a
: a miss (as with a bomb) close enough to cause damage
b
: something that falls just short of success
2
a
: a near collision (as between aircraft)

Examples of near miss in a Sentence

After years of near misses, the team has finally won a championship. a near miss with death prompted him to give up skydiving
Recent Examples on the Web
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Other signs to watch out for, per the National Institute on Aging (NIA), include confusing the gas and brake pedals, sudden lane changes, lots of new dents or scrapes on the car, multiple near misses, and speeding or driving slowly. Jessie Van Amburg, SELF, 25 Nov. 2024 The job involves high stakes, and having a deficit of said employees fuels a number of near misses of airplane collisions, as close calls involving crashes happen on average multiple times a week per a 2023 New York Times investigation. Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 4 Oct. 2024 Since then, there have been plenty of near misses: Calgary lost to Tampa Bay in seven games in 2004, Edmonton to Carolina in seven in ’06, Ottawa to Anaheim in five in ’07 before the Vancouver and Montreal trips to the final. Stephen Whyno, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 June 2024 This felt the most definitive of all the near misses with United players City. Zak Garner-Purkis, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for near miss 

Word History

First Known Use

1940, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of near miss was in 1940

Dictionary Entries Near near miss

Cite this Entry

“Near miss.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/near%20miss. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

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