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:
Together, these features make it exceptionally effective at finding rare sources that earlier surveys could easily miss.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 15, 2026
The student joked that he initially thought the museum visit would simply be a fun excuse to miss class.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2026
Changing printers would have delayed the book even further, causing us to miss our solicited sales date and the crucial holiday gifting season.
From Slate ● Nov. 14, 2026
Iron Maiden said they will miss the ceremony as they're on tour in Australia.
From Barron's ● Nov. 14, 2026
‘Look, leave it with me. You two go out and play with the others before you miss them completely. I’ll sort it. She’ll never know anyone was here.’
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
“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
“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
"In these types of conditions where it's a little bit colder and you can't really get the ball out of his strike zone, he can just unload and not miss. It's tough."
From BBC ● Jan. 22, 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
"Yes, three flights down. Or the lift is faster, miss. Oh, wait, aren't you..."
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
Raymond Lewis was in the ninth grade in Clarksdale, Miss., when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
The lyrics mention muddy water and Natchez, Miss., and he adds wailing fills on the instrument officially known as a harmonica but which in this context is usually called a “harp.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The cases against Proper, 19, remains ongoing, as do the cases against the two other alleged co-conspirators: Daniel K. Eskridge, 32, of Kidder, Miss., and Abraham Hermosillo Alvarez, 31, of Omaha.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
I could feel her on her tiptoes and then her mouth was right up against my ear and she said, very clearly, “I. Will. Miss. Hanging. Out. With. You.”
From "Paper Towns" by John Green
Mubanga, 25, a registered nurse, was crowned Miss Universe Zambia on 8 October and was due to represent the country at the international pageant.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2026
Her co-star Thomasin McKenzie, playing the innocent nursemaid Miss Lamb, could also pull this off with little to no effort.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2026
“I definitely think Miss Bass has a lot of youth support. I’ve seen it myself. We organize events all the time, and people turn out,” said Shropshire-Maina.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
According to Mr. Taylor, “Tolkien, being Tolkien, did not of course know who Miss Gardner was.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Miss Buckner bolted up from her seat and trained a finger at me.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
For those companies that do fall short of expectations, the market actually has been punishing their misses a little less than normal, the FactSet report found.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 8, 2026
What that statistic misses, though, is a lot less hiring of young people in white-collar roles such as software development since ChatGPT launched.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
One player nearly misses a game because she can’t find a babysitter, something that really happened to Angel City captain Sarah Gorden.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026
"We know Barry misses chances, but we also know this season he keeps going and he scores goals," former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
“Dear Polo, we are so glad we will see you in a mere matter of hours. We miss you. We miss you as the dry, cracked earth misses the rain.”
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
He missed a large chunk of the season, including Centennial’s 10-9 loss against Mater Dei on Sept. 11, and made up for it by doing everything possible on the field.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2026
In 2025, a dozen female fighters across five nations were barred from the World Championships in Liverpool because deadlines for their sex tests were missed.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2026
The research highlights how familiar scientific theories can contain possibilities that were missed because earlier investigations relied on restrictive assumptions.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 13, 2026
How AI diagnosed a medical mystery doctors missed for decades.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026
That’s what Erica called the piece C.J. brought to class, with all the reasons the poet missed their dad.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
Gary Klein’s prediction: The Rams are missing star receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, but Garrett and defensive lineman Aaron Donald will terrorize quarterback Carson Beck in his first NFL game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2026
Frost’s remark suggests that some of the missing letters were less innocent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2026
“Yarhamuk Allah,” he answered without missing a beat.
From Slate ● Nov. 13, 2026
Prosecutors have appealed for international help as they attempt to trace the missing funds.
From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2026
But it was all Clare could do to hide his patchy fur, his ear shriveled up like a dried mushroom, his missing left eye.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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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.
