miss
verb (used with object)
to fail to hit or strike.
miss
1 American
[mis]
/ mɪs /
verb (used with object)
-
misses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
missed,
past participle, past
-
missing
present participle
-
to fail to hit or strike.
to miss a target.
-
to fail to encounter, meet, catch, etc..
to miss a train.
-
to fail to take advantage of.
to miss a chance.
-
to fail to be present at or for.
to miss a day of school.
-
to notice the absence or loss of.
When did you first miss your wallet?
-
to regret the absence or loss of.
I miss you all dreadfully.
-
to escape or avoid.
He just missed being caught.
-
to fail to perceive or understand.
to miss the point of a remark.
verb (used without object)
-
misses,
present (3rd person singular)
-
missed,
past participle, past
-
missing
present participle
-
to fail to hit something.
-
to fail of effect or success; be unsuccessful.
noun
-
a failure to hit something.
-
a failure of any kind.
-
an omission.
-
a misfire.
verb phrase
-
miss out on to fail to take advantage of, experience, etc..
You missed out on a great opportunity.
-
miss out to omit; leave out.
idioms
miss
2
American
[mis]
/ mɪs /
noun
-
misses
plural
-
(initial capital letter) a title of respect for an unmarried woman, conventionally prefixed to her name or to the name of that which she represents.
Miss Mary Jones; Miss Sweden.
-
(used by itself, as a term of address, especially to a young woman).
Miss, please bring me some ketchup.
-
(initial capital letter) a title prefixed to a mock surname used to represent a particular attribute of the person, especially one excessively prominent.
Miss Innocent; Miss Congeniality.
-
a young unmarried woman; girl.
a radiant miss of 18 or so.
-
misses,
-
a range of sizes, chiefly from 6 to 20, for garments that fit women of average height and build.
-
the department or section of a store where these garments are sold.
-
a garment in this size range.
-
miss.
3
American
abbreviation
-
mission.
-
missionary.
Miss.
4
American
abbreviation
miss
1
British
/ mɪs /
verb
-
to fail to reach, hit, meet, find, or attain (some specified or implied aim, goal, target, etc)
-
(tr) to fail to attend or be present for
to miss a train
to miss an appointment
-
(tr) to fail to see, hear, understand, or perceive
to miss a point
-
(tr) to lose, overlook, or fail to take advantage of
to miss an opportunity
-
(tr) to leave out; omit
to miss an entry in a list
-
(tr) to discover or regret the loss or absence of
he missed his watch
she missed him
-
(tr) to escape or avoid (something, esp a danger), usually narrowly
he missed death by inches
-
to lose an opportunity
noun
-
a failure to reach, hit, meet, find, etc
-
informal to avoid (something)
give the lecture a miss
give the pudding a miss
Miss.
2
British
abbreviation
Miss
3
British
/ mɪs /
noun
miss
4
British
/ mɪs /
noun
miss
More Idioms
Usage
What is a basic definition of miss? Miss means to fail to hit something, to fail to meet something, or to feel sadness over the absence or loss of something. The word miss has several other senses as a verb and a noun. To miss something is to fail to hit or strike something, as with an arrow missing a target. If a runaway vehicle misses a stop sign, then it doesn’t smash into it.
- Real-life examples: If you throw a basketball to your friend and they don’t catch it, the ball misses. When a baseball player misses a baseball with their bat, they try to hit the ball with the bat but fail to. A bowling ball that doesn’t knock down any pins has missed them.
- Used in a sentence: Luckily, the falling tree branch missed me by a few inches and landed on the ground instead of on my head.
- Used in a sentence: All of his attempts to throw the basketball into the hoop were misses.
- Real-life examples: If you are late meeting up with a friend, they might leave and you’ll miss them. If you take too long to get to the bus stop, the bus will leave without you and you’ll miss it.
- Used in a sentence: She missed the morning train and had to wait until the next one came.
- Real-life examples: Parents often miss their children after they move out of the house. Everybody misses loved ones who have died. A person may miss a favorite food that is no longer being made.
- Used in a sentence: The freezing man missed the heat of Florida.
Gender
See Ms.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
misssimple
-
missessimple
-
have missedperfect
-
has missedperfect
-
am missingprogressive
-
are missingprogressive
-
is missingprogressive
-
have been missingperfect progressive
-
has been missingperfect progressive
Past
-
missedsimple
-
had missedperfect
-
was missingprogressive
-
were missingprogressive
-
had been missingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of miss1
First recorded before 900; Middle English missen, mis(e), Old English missan; cognate with Old Frisian missa, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, Old High German missen, Old Norse missa “to fail to hit or reach”
Origin of miss2
First recorded in 1600–10; short for mistress
Explanation
To miss is to fail to do or sense something, or to be without. If you miss all your free throws, your basketball team probably won't miss you if you skip a game. The verb form of miss stems from the Old English missan “fail to hit what was aimed at,” while the noun form of miss, meaning a term of honor to a young woman is just the abbreviated form of mistress, which used to be a title of respect. You might not miss the days when every unmarried woman had to be called "Miss."
Vocabulary lists containing miss
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"In Response to Executive Order 9066"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The government has also argued that the scheme will help to boost housebuilding, after ministers conceded they are set to miss a target to build 1.5 million homes in England by the next election.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2026
Don’t miss: ‘I don’t feel sorry for myself’: I’m 64 and will be renting for the rest of my life.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026
“We will miss this dear, sweet, kind, friendly man,” the obituary read.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
"A lot of stuff comes back to you. You feel grateful that you are still around 60 years on, but then you miss your friends and family that we lost at the time," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
Did they have people who would miss them the way Danny missed Pili?
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
“But if you get hit with a hurricane and an asteroid in the same period, we’ll miss. And that’s OK.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 25, 2026
"It's difficult to find time to gather and see everyone. This is what we miss. We feel like the time flies very, very fast because we're busy," she says.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2025
“Second of all, his defense, his ability to jump, his ability to shoot — together, we were great I think. Obviously one guy I miss. We’ll get some dinner now that we’re in L.A.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2025
“But at the same time, there’s a lot of things I think we’re going to miss. Richard offered the Latino community political power that it never had.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2024
"I don't know, miss. It might not even be true, but I thought you'd want to see it."
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
And Josh Norris, a financial planner with LeFleur Financial in Jackson, Miss., says the jump in payout rates is a bit of a red herring.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026
Richoux, who lives in Picayune, Miss., appreciates that DTC brands have made the delicacy more readily available.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
Walters of Natchez, Miss., who left a career in computer science to pursue a more lucrative calling—manufacturing and installing seamless gutters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
His attorneys, however, note that the envelopes were postmarked in Jackson, Miss., not Colorado.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
So I say: ‘But I’ll be all right, Miss. I’m really fit, I know how to look after myself. When it’s time for donations, I’ll be able to do it really well.’
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
“You Miss Me” combines the theatricality of Roxy Music with the supper-club creepiness of chamber-pop singer Scott Walker, its pulsing orchestrations signaling danger.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Despite her nerves, she stands in the spotlight and sings Miss Danielle’s big number.
From Salon ● Oct. 12, 2026
"Miss Marple is so on," Hart said with a smile.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
The criminal complaint alleges that on 21 September, an Ole Miss student was found dead in his dorm room.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
“Why, this is wonderful,” Miss Lacey said as she flipped through a few of the pages I’d marked.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Unlike fiction, however, real-life justice sometimes misses its mark.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
The company misses on both earnings per share and revenue expectations.
From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026
"The kind of person who misses a flight and, instead of panicking, calmly adapts to the situation. This person may still feel stressed, but they're better able to manage it through psychological flexibility."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
Palmer has played more minutes than any Chelsea player this season but missed England's recent international break, prompting Thomas Tuchel to say he "misses too many opportunities".
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
What if Axel misses having the pillows on the floor and the wooden crosses that framed smaller sections to look through?
From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers
Barring those, an analyst says, the EV maker would’ve missed across the board.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026
That missed Ord Minnett’s expectations by 8% and reflected port disruptions in Queensland and New South Wales.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
Sridhar referenced a comment made by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, that every quarter delay in a gigawatt data center translates to $10 billion of missed revenue.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 23, 2026
"I think we missed expectations with our community last year," he tells BBC Newsbeat.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
Once the mail’s sorted, I turn on the computer to check the marina’s email and notice another envelope that I missed, wedged behind the monitor.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
El Salvador has deployed special forces to Haiti after four of its soldiers serving in a UN-backed force in the Caribbean nation went missing following a gang ambush, officials said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 23, 2026
Bits of connective tissue can sometimes feel missing amid the action and the story’s lessons, particularly for Prue, don’t always land as strongly or affectingly as they could.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 23, 2026
The bike is found, but Jeanie stays missing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
"We provided the missing piece of the puzzle needed to completely describe the optical cycle of spin defects," Galli said.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026
In 1944, a strong coastal storm uncovered the missing tombstones under a highway, and these boys scrambled up to see.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
