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:
She said researchers trying to do that can often miss the complexity, scale, and natural variability in the systems they are investigating.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Don’t worry, you didn’t miss a super-secret cut of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” that’s only projected on the side of Buc-ee’s locations nationwide.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
"You have to literally stay on duty and stare at the screen the whole time, because you can easily miss it," said Esko, who did not appear to struggle, even late into the night.
From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026
Seema Patel, an associate professor of law at UC Law San Francisco, also stays up late at night to try to finish her work so she doesn't have to miss moments with her children.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
“The last thing I want to talk about on the day my daughter moves out is work. I’ll miss you, you know.”
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
“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
"Their attention is the thing that we often miss. We feel separate, and then we think that our partner also feels separate, and we have this gap between us."
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026
“It’s a nice, firm spiral, man, and the guy doesn’t miss. Literally, can’t say enough great things.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 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
“Yes, miss. Of course, miss,” the guard rushed to reply.
From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
His attorneys, however, note that the envelopes were postmarked in Jackson, Miss., not Colorado.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
Preston Arrington began renting land from his father in Sunflower County, Miss., a quarter-century ago to grow cotton and grains — becoming the fourth generation of his family to choose a career in the fields.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 2, 2026
Eleven-year-old Margot “Meg” Lefleur, one of the two narrators of Kathryn Stockett’s historical novel “The Calamity Club,” has been a resident of an orphanage in Oxford, Miss., since 1931—two miserable years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026
As a young lawyer, my formative experiences were in Biloxi, Miss., representing families who lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 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
In addition to the prison sentence, the judge extended the restraining order to stop Bear from contacting Miss Harrison's mother and her friend, which remain in place until a new order is put in.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Over the next few days, I met my other neighbors, including Miss Rosita and Mr. Art.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
After serving half his original sentence, Bear was released from prison, but between 1 March 2025 and 21 July 2025 began posting on Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube and Facebook about the case and Miss Harrison.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
"This study has delivered the first framework for interpreting how megafauna fossils formed, survived, and changed in underwater caves," Miss Walker said.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
“Yes, yes, perhaps I can talk to Miss Adams about that.”
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
Klaasen was superbly caught by a diving Donald on the boundary before Bracewell was pinned lbw, and the crowd came to life at Dawson's swings and misses at his first two balls.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Background and context: The decision last month follows consecutive earnings misses and scraps targets set in December 2024, after a five-year run where sales surged 80%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Dean Lyulkin, CEO of Cardiff and a former executive at Fisher Investments, agreed that management’s guidance outweighs whether SpaceX beats or misses on earnings.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
"By providing bursaries to those who need them most and fully funding apprenticeship training, we are making sure cost is not the reason someone misses out," McFadden said.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
The three-line notice in the classifieds: Elizabeth misses her Margaret, but is glad to be vacationing in Kijkduin.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
It estimates staying put costs British savers around £12bn in missed interest every year, based on analysis of Financial Conduct Authority data.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
He says all of this means a missed opportunity to address deep-rooted trauma some of which he feels is etched into the very geography and psychology of modern Ghana.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
She had missed her connecting flight to Ibiza and was stuck in Madrid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
As part of his reporting, he regularly listens to corporate earnings calls and began noticing a pattern: When publicly traded alcohol companies missed sales targets, executives often reached for the same explanation.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
I can tell she wants to say something else here, either a reproach or a further suggestion about something I’ve missed, but whatever it is, she bites it back.
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
A 56-year-old man from Moray has gone missing in Rome on the first night of his holiday, his fiancée has said.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
“Talladega Nights” pegs this missing link between America’s urban past and its exurban future from its opening seconds, putting a quote about “hot, nasty, badass speed” in the mouth of New York Swell Eleanor Roosevelt.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
But the grid is missing round-the-clock power to replace Diablo Canyon, said Conor Doyle, chief of strategic initiatives at PG&E, during a recent tour of the plant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Rachel Hinken long wondered why her son, Oliver, seemed to be missing key growth milestones, including speech and walking delays.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026
I would normally be in a rehearsal room playing, but Rue is missing Black Alliance so she can take me out to eat for my birthday.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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.
