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)

b

: close call

Synonyms

• close call
• close shave

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

Just two of the most serious type of near miss, in which a collision was narrowly avoided, occurred in 2024, which again was the lowest of the last decade. —Harry Enten, CNN, 19 Feb. 2025

The near misses were often the result of human error by pilots or air traffic controllers. —Emily Steel, New York Times, 13 Feb. 2025

From pandemics to global politics, from chance meetings that lead to a sale to near misses that lead to lost opportunities — the luck factors, good or bad, are all around. —Jj Rosen, The Tennessean, 10 Feb. 2025

Álvarez had a handful of opportunities in the first period yesterday, but was left frustrated by near misses. —Joseph O'Sullivan, Forbes, 13 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1940, in the meaning defined at sense 1a