as in to backfire
to have the reverse of the desired or expected effect
the well-meaning gesture boomeranged, since he ended up being offended by it
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for boomerang
Verb
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Image Thomas James wants to work at scale, but if too many people signed up for Thomas James, the model could backfire, by making all the homes in the neighborhood look alike.—
Robert Petkoff Krish Seenivasan Quinton Kamara,
New York Times,
8 Apr. 2025 -
Trump’s war has no strategy and is likely to backfire.—
Robert F. Worth,
The Atlantic,
8 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Dramatic videos show buildings collapsing and swaying in Thailand. 4:09 A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake rattled much of Southeast Asia on Friday, resulting in mounting casualties and flattened skyscrapers from Myanmar to Thailand.—
Mark Osborne,
ABC News,
28 Mar. 2025
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The quake also caused a skyscraper in Bangkok, Thailand, to collapse.—
Jeanine Santucci,
USA Today,
28 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Her cookery show seems to have bombed and the previous podcast deal with Spotify flopped, so the desire to succeed this time is weighing heavily on her shoulders.—
Stephanie Nolasco,
FOXNews.com,
8 Apr. 2025
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If the company’s stock flops, your reward flops too.—
Anatoly Iofe,
Forbes.com,
7 Apr. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Boomerang.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/boomerang. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.
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