backfire
(of an internal-combustion engine) to have a loud, premature explosion in the intake manifold.
to bring a result opposite to that which was planned or expected: The plot backfired.
Origin of backfire
1Other words for backfire
2 | miscarry, boomerang; flop, bomb, wash out |
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use backfire in a sentence
That strategy is backfiring so badly that it may help cost Romney the presidency.
Romney Response to Egypt Embassy Attack Makes It Easy for Obama | Peter Beinart | September 13, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTThis strategy seems like it could be backfiring, with many protests taking place in solidarity with those arrested.
Whitehouse said Republican intransigence could end up backfiring on them.
Top Bush strategist Nicolle Wallace on why the White House war on cable is backfiring badly.
Many of the right's biggest fears are becoming self-fulfilling prophecies thanks to their backfiring attempts at activism.
She was backfiring her protests but presently settled down to her accustomed smoothness.
David Lannarck, Midget | George S. HarneyThe violent emotional stress causes a sort of backfiring of the mind, if you see what I mean.
The Eyes Have It | Gordon Randall GarrettThe backfiring had been a success in that area if not in any other.
Bill Bruce on Forest Patrol | Henry Harley ArnoldAnd the three shots sounded, at first—the first impression was that this was another motorcycle backfiring.
Warren Commission (6 of 26): Hearings Vol. VI (of 15) | The President's Commission on the Assassination of President KennedyI thought at first the motorcycle backfiring or somebody throwed some firecrackers out.
Warren Commission (6 of 26): Hearings Vol. VI (of 15) | The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
British Dictionary definitions for backfire
/ (ˌbækˈfaɪə) /
(of an internal-combustion engine) to emit a loud noise as a result of an explosion in the inlet manifold or exhaust system
(of an endeavour, plan, etc) to have an unwanted effect on its perpetrator: his plans backfired on him
to start a controlled fire in order to halt an advancing forest or prairie fire by creating a barren area
(in an internal-combustion engine)
an explosion of unburnt gases in the exhaust system
a premature explosion in a cylinder or inlet manifold
a controlled fire started to create a barren area that will halt an advancing forest or prairie fire
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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