Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

miss the point

Idioms  

  1. Overlook or fail to understand the essential or important part of something, as in Chris missed the point of Gwen's complaint, thinking she was opposed to the date of the next meeting. This expression employs point in the sense of “the salient portion,” a usage dating from the late 1300s.

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.

But you miss the point if you fail to look at the bigger picture.

From Slate • Jan. 9, 2026

Do not miss the point: The battle is for our children’s future, not our present.

From Salon • Aug. 8, 2025

It feels like a slice of Americana in New South Wales perhaps - but that would miss the point that here, rodeo has become very much an outback Australian tradition in its own right.

From BBC • May 1, 2025

I felt like that would miss the point.

From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2024

Nowadays, we would call this plagiarism, but that would be entirely to miss the point.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.