What does "miss" mean?
A failure to physically hit.
Miss
/mɪs/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A failure to physically hit.
- Grammar: miss is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: young woman, abandon, absence, absented.
- Useful contrasts: dry land being, environmental impact, noted instance.
- Usage evidence: We shall all miss you when you go away.
How to use "miss"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "miss" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "miss" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "miss" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "miss" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "miss" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "young woman" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "miss", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A failure to physically hit.
"In eight shots at the target he had six misses."
- 2 A title of respect for an unmarried woman with or without a name used. countable, uncountable
"You may sit here, miss."
- 3 A form of address, now used chiefly for an unmarried woman; used chiefly of girls before the mid-1700s, and thereafter used also of adult women without regard to marital status.
"Mrs. Gardiner would be happy to see Miss March and Miss Josephine at a little dance on New-Year's-Eve."
- 4 Initialism of medium intensity steady state. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
- 5 a form of address for an unmarried woman wordnet
Show 22 more definitions
- 6 A failure to obtain or accomplish something; a failure to succeed.
"After four top-ten singles, the band's next release was a miss."
- 7 A term of address by a student for a female teacher, especially one using their maiden name. countable, uncountable
"Here's my report, Miss Smith."
- 8 A form of address, now used chiefly for an unmarried woman; used chiefly of girls before the mid-1700s, and thereafter used also of adult women without regard to marital status.; With a surname.
"These are the two young ladies that I wanted you to meet, Miss Jones and Miss Robinson."
- 9 Initialism of microbially induced sedimentary structure. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
- 10 a failure to hit (or meet or find etc.) wordnet
- 11 An act of avoidance (usually used with the verb give).
"I think I’ll give the meeting a miss."
- 12 An unmarried woman; a girl. countable, uncountable
"While thus the fiends, with wily art, Adroitly stole upon the heart, And with their complaisance, and tales, Had ruind more than half the males, Gay Vanity, with smiles, and kisses, Was busy 'mongst the maids, and misses."
- 13 A form of address, now used chiefly for an unmarried woman; used chiefly of girls before the mid-1700s, and thereafter used also of adult women without regard to marital status.; With a full name.
"The victim was named as Miss Jane Doe."
- 14 a young female wordnet
- 15 Someone or something whose loss or absence is felt. informal
"Top striker Smith is out injured and will be a big miss for United."
- 16 A kept woman; a mistress. countable, uncountable
"courting a Miss"
- 17 A form of address, now used chiefly for an unmarried woman; used chiefly of girls before the mid-1700s, and thereafter used also of adult women without regard to marital status.; With a first name only. dated, regional
"Excuse me Ma'am, will Miss Julia and Miss Emily be staying for tea?"
- 18 The situation where an item is not found in a cache and therefore needs to be explicitly loaded.
"Already we're seeing fewer cache misses by avoiding creating cache entries for the idle task and expect to see even fewer with changes to the TLB reload code to uncache the page tables."
- 19 In the game of three-card loo, an extra hand, dealt on the table, which may be substituted for the hand dealt to a player. countable, uncountable
- 20 A form of address, now used chiefly for an unmarried woman; used chiefly of girls before the mid-1700s, and thereafter used also of adult women without regard to marital status.; Used alone. dated
"Good morning, Miss. May I help you?"
- 21 A foul shot that fails to hit the target ball, where the player has, in the referee's judgement, not made every effort to play a legal shot; in addition to conceding points for the foul, the player can be made to play the shot again.
- 22 A form of address for a female teacher or a waitress.
"Excuse me, Miss, Donny's been pinching my pencils again."
- 23 Error, fault; misdeed, wrongdoing, sin. obsolete
- 24 Used in title of the (female) winner of a beauty contest, or certain other types of contest, prefixing the country or other region that she represents, or the category of contest.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause to our lovely new Miss Yorkshire!"
- 25 Hurt or harm from a mistake or accident. obsolete
- 26 Used in a mock title to point out some quality, or alleged quality, of a girl or woman. derogatory, often, sarcastic
"Don't ask me, ask Miss know-it-all over there."
- 27 Loss, lack want; hence, the feeling of loss. obsolete
Verb
- 1 To fail to hit, catch, grasp, etc. ambitransitive, physical
"I fired the gun, but the bullet missed the target."
- 2 leave undone or leave out wordnet
- 3 To avoid hitting. ambitransitive, physical
"The driver swerved and just managed to miss the chicken crossing the road."
- 4 fail to experience wordnet
- 5 To fail to achieve or attain. transitive
"The company missed all its sales targets."
Show 19 more definitions
- 6 fail to reach wordnet
- 7 To fail to experience, attend, partake, take advantage of, etc. transitive
"Joe missed the meeting this morning."
- 8 feel or suffer from the lack of wordnet
- 9 To avoid or escape. transitive
"The car just missed hitting a passer-by."
- 10 fail to reach or get to wordnet
- 11 To become aware of the loss or absence of; to feel the want or need of, sometimes with regret; to feel sadness at the absence of somebody or something. transitive
"I miss you! Come home soon!"
- 12 fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind wordnet
- 13 To fail to understand. transitive
"to miss the joke"
- 14 fail to attend an event or activity wordnet
- 15 To fail to notice; to have a shortcoming of perception; overlook. transitive
"So I'm just going over my early notes, see if I missed anything."
- 16 be without wordnet
- 17 To be too late to connect with or meet something or someone (a means of transportation, a deadline, etc.). transitive
"I missed the plane!"
- 18 be absent wordnet
- 19 To be wanting; to lack something that should be present (see also adjectival missing). transitive
"The car is missing essential features."
- 20 To spare someone of something unwanted or undesirable. slang, transitive
"Miss me with that nonsense!"
- 21 To fail to help the hand of a player.
"Player A: J7. Player B: Q6. Table: 283. The flop missed both players!"
- 22 To fail to score (a goal).
"Georgia, ranked 16th in the world, dominated the breakdown before half-time and forced England into a host of infringements, but fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili missed three penalties."
- 23 To go wrong; to err. intransitive, obsolete
"Emongst the Angels, a whole legione / Of wicked Sprights did fall from happy blis; / What wonder then, if one of women all did mis?"
- 24 To be absent, deficient, or wanting. intransitive, obsolete
"What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend."
Proper Noun
- 1 Mississippi, as used in case citations.
Antonyms
dry land beingenvironmental impactnoted instanceobserved entity
Example
"We shall all miss you when you go away."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "miss"?
Common synonyms include: young woman, abandon, absence, absented, avoid, babe.
How do you use "miss" in a sentence?
We shall all miss you when you go away.
How do you pronounce "miss"?
Pronounced /mɪs/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
Verb from Middle English missen, from Old English missan (“to miss, escape the notice of a person”), from Proto-West Germanic *missijan, from Proto-Germanic *missijaną (“to miss, go wrong, fail”), from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to change, exchange, trade”). Cognate with West Frisian misse (“to miss”), Dutch missen (“to miss”), German missen (“to miss”), Norwegian Bokmål and Danish miste (“to lose”), Swedish missa (“to miss”), Norwegian Nynorsk, Icelandic missa (“to lose”) and Latin mittere (“to send, let go”). Noun from Middle English misse, mis, from Old English miss (“loss, absence”), from Proto-West Germanic *miss, from Proto-Germanic *miss- (“loss”). Cognate with Scots miss (“a loss, want, cause of grief or mourning”), Middle High German misse, mis (“lack, missing, absence”), Icelandic missir (“loss”). Related also to Scots mis (“wrongdoing, sin, guilt”), Dutch mis (“misdeed, wrongdoing, mistake”), Middle Low German misse (“sin, wrong”).
Etymology 2
From mistress.