Tom thinks the plan may backfire.
Source: tatoeba (1024107)
Backfire
//bækˈfaɪə(ɹ)//
Synonyms for "backfire" (125 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (25)
Strong matches (38)
Related words (62)
flashflashing pointflickerflickering flamefly backforest firefox firefulgurationfulminatefulminationfuneral pyrego offhave repercussionsignis fatuusignitioninglekickkick backkickbackknock
Show 39 more words
lambent flamelash backlay an egglet offmarshfiremiscarrymissopen fireprairie firepyreraging firereboundrebuffrecalcitraterecalcitrationrecoilrepercussrepercussionreportrepulseresileresilienceretortricochetsea of flamesset offsheet of fireshootsignal beaconsmudge firesnap backspringspring backthree-alarm firetouch offtwo-alarm firewatch firewildfirewitch fire
Verb(1 words)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
22 entriesShowing 16 of 22 words.
Synonyms
2 entriesderived
1 entriesetymologically related_to
2 entriesform of
1 entrieshas context
1 entriesis a
3 entriesmanner of
3 entriesreceives action
1 entriesrelated to
6 entriesTranslations
26 translations across 11 languages.
Danish
1 entries- give bagslag verb (fail)
Dutch
2 entries- averechts werken verb (fail)
- falen verb (fail)
Finnish
3 entries- epäonnistua verb (fail)
- kostautua verb (fail)
- mennä pieleen verb (fail)
French
4 entries- avoir l'effet inverse verb (fail)
- contrecoup subi verb (fail)
- retour de flamme verb (fail)
- se retourner contre verb (fail)
German
2 entries- fehlschlagen verb (fail)
- nach hinten losgehen verb (fail)
Italian
1 entries- avere effetto contrario verb (fail)
Portuguese
2 entries- sair o tiro pela culatra verb (fail)
- sair pela culatra verb (fail)
Russian
2 entries- привести́ к обра́тным результа́там verb (fail)
- приводи́ть к обра́тным результа́там verb (fail)
Serbo-Croatian
2 entries- obiti se o glavu verb (fail)
- vratiti se verb (fail)
Spanish
4 entries- jugar una mala pasada verb (fail)
- petardear verb (to experience a premature ignition of fuel or an ignition of exhaust gases, making a popping sound)
- salir el tiro por la culata verb (fail)
- tener contraefecto verb (fail)
Swedish
1 entries- slå slint verb (fail)
Sample sentences
16 total sentences available.
Tom thought he heard a car backfire.
Source: tatoeba (1092791)
I heard a car backfire.
Source: tatoeba (3635930)
I think it'll backfire.
Source: tatoeba (5747618)
Showing 4 of 16 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.