How to Use misfire in a Sentence

misfire

1 of 2 verb
  • The brain misfires on what feels charged or taboo.
    — Peter White, Deadline, 24 Feb. 2026
  • The weapon, which the inmate shouldn't have had, misfired and no one was hurt.
    — CBS News, 25 Nov. 2023
  • Court records show the teen tried to shoot Spencer with a rifle, but the gun misfired.
    — Cbs Miami Team, CBS News, 25 June 2026
  • And research into why the brain misfires.
    — Teri Sforza, Oc Register, 27 Mar. 2026
  • Cheshire misfired a snap, sending the ball into the end zone and forcing a turnover.
    — Sean Begin, courant.com, 4 Dec. 2019
  • On the first night, a sixgill knocked into the speargun, causing it to misfire.
    — National Geographic, 5 Sep. 2019
  • Even classic color duos can misfire if they’re not thought through.
    — Sophie Flaxman, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Oct. 2025
  • Even classic color duos can misfire if they’re not thought through.
    — Sophie Flaxman, Better Homes & Gardens, 13 June 2026
  • Both quarterbacks also misfired on a few passes due to the wet ball.
    — OrlandoSentinel.com, 15 May 2018
  • Nelson and Rodgers misfired on what looked like a sure touchdown on the second drive.
    — Jr Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 8 Jan. 2020
  • Ilsinho turned to shoot, and ended up misfiring the ball to just in front of Sapong.
    — Jonathan Tannenwald, Philly.com, 28 June 2018
  • Maybe a couple misfires with his (sinkers), but that's nitpicking with that type of outing.
    — Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 12 Mar. 2023
  • The Dodgers had already flashed the play in the sequence, as Vesia misfired on his first pitch.
    — Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
  • Then Beal misfired on a 3 attempt from the wing and Gordon grabbed the miss.
    — Roy Parry, orlandosentinel.com, 17 Nov. 2019
  • Reed misfired long on his approach shot to the final hole and faced a delicate downhill putt.
    — Jesse Smithey, Detroit Free Press, 8 Apr. 2018
  • The gun misfired and was immediately snatched from her hands.
    — Sarah Vitali, Harper's magazine, 10 May 2019
  • As the moon and Mercury clash, your intuition misfires.
    — Usa Today, USA Today, 13 Nov. 2025
  • Models trained on last quarter’s data may misfire this quarter.
    — Abhesh Kumar, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
  • Houston created more scoring chances in the first half, only to misfire a few times.
    — Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 May 2022
  • Tesla, the company that made electric cars cool and sleek, may have misfired on its pickup.
    — Matt McFarland, CNN, 22 Nov. 2019
  • Play was stopped during the fourth quarter when a T-shirt misfired onto the court during play.
    — Michael Marot, charlotteobserver, 10 Apr. 2018
  • His teammates combined for just eight first-quarter points and misfired on all six of their 3-point attempts.
    — Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 23 Mar. 2026
  • Harden misfired on two 3-point attempts in the final seconds.
    — CBS News, 18 Nov. 2025
  • The Rockets had spent much of the second half misfiring, but that was not their greatest issue.
    — Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle, 9 Feb. 2020
  • When the gun misfired, one teen brutally beat the student before exiting the bus.
    — Kristine Parks, Fox News, 9 May 2023
  • Belinelli misfired on a three-pointer right before the buzzer and the Celtics escaped with the win.
    — Keith Pompey, Philly.com, 6 May 2018
  • Next trip down the floor Mickey Mitchell misfired on a jumper and the Trojans snagged that loose ball as well.
    — Michelle Gardner, azcentral, 29 Feb. 2020
  • Then came the shot the crowd had been waiting for as the Pioneer had been misfiring all night from 3-point land.
    — Jerry McDonald, Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2026
  • Sig Sauer faces a class action suit over claims that its P320 pistol misfires.
    — Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 15 Apr. 2026
  • Jordan Stout also misfired on a 24-yard punt in the first half on a windy afternoon.
    — Childs Walker, Baltimore Sun, 24 Jan. 2024

misfire

2 of 2 noun
  • The way the rest of the game played out, that misfire proved critical.
    — Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 23 Jan. 2022
  • Just as kids have to learn to course-correct after a misfire, so do dads!
    — Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 21 June 2022
  • Despite the misfires, her career hasn’t been a slog.
    — Seija Rankin, HollywoodReporter, 23 Oct. 2025
  • The single and double pinch gestures were all spot-on with no misfires.
    — PC Magazine, 17 Oct. 2025
  • The most common is a misfire, or a soft firing pin strike when the trigger is pulled.
    — Tyler Freel, Outdoor Life, 26 Feb. 2021
  • But can the tech behemoth keep spending big on big-screen misfires?
    — Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 5 Feb. 2024
  • Universal endured a few misfires as well, but none were as painful.
    — Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 2 Jan. 2024
  • The Rockets held the lead through the first 17 misfires.
    — The Athletic Nba Staff, New York Times, 11 Nov. 2025
  • But this past year saw a pair of spectacular misfires.
    — Tatiana Siegel, Variety, 22 Aug. 2025
  • But his teammates attributed that misfire more to a wet ball than to rookie nerves.
    — Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Jan. 2023
  • The control scheme is intuitive, but the touch surface on the right is far too prone to misfires.
    — PCMAG, 5 Feb. 2024
  • Biden has a long history of gaffes, statements that misfire or land badly.
    — Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2022
  • Nerve cells misfire, leading to headache and nausea—the first signs of heat exhaustion.
    — Aryn Baker, Time, 26 May 2022
  • The miss was just his third errant field goal attempt and fifth misfire (he's missed two extra points) overall.
    — Akeem Glaspie, The Indianapolis Star, 23 Nov. 2020
  • The misfires haven’t deterred investors.
    — Bloomberg, Mercury News, 20 Aug. 2025
  • Madame Web is one of those rare misfires that prompts one to wonder how it was made in the first place, or who it was even made for.
    — Dani Di Placido, Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024
  • Students also learn how to clear their firearms after a misfire or a failure-to-eject occurred.
    — Frank Sargeant, al, 31 Mar. 2021
  • The film is, admittedly, pretty bad, a tonal misfire that tanked at the box office.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 25 Feb. 2021
  • No ending with Best Picture (more on that grievous misfire in a bit).
    — Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 26 Apr. 2021
  • The misfire on Mullens part was not including a large enough buyout.
    — John Canzano, oregonlive, 17 Dec. 2020
  • But pass blocking and receivers played a significant role in the misfire.
    — oregonlive, 17 Nov. 2020
  • Lucky for music fans, those early misfires didn’t spell the demise of Casablanca Records.
    — Ted Brown, Rolling Stone, 13 Mar. 2023
  • The biggest misfire of the evening came in a virtual production.
    — Tim Diovanni, Dallas News, 3 Sep. 2021
  • Is this album a cultural misfire?
    — Bianca Davino, Refinery29, 7 Oct. 2025
  • Rebeck also wants to use plants—their resilience, their need for space and care—as a metaphor, but this show is a mind-boggling misfire.
    — Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 21 Sep. 2023
  • The pallidness of Carter Burwell’s score, in a rare misfire for him, doesn’t help things any.
    — Mark Feeney, BostonGlobe.com, 26 Oct. 2022
  • But Lucasfilm's Kennedy era wasn't without its flops and misfires.
    — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 15 Jan. 2026
  • In a career so perfectly executed, where does a misfire like this come from?
    — Bianca Davino, Refinery29, 7 Oct. 2025
  • That, in turn, has allowed the company to take big swings without the fear of the occasional misfire.
    — Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 8 Sep. 2021
  • To describe Perry’s 2012 campaign as a misfire for the ages wouldn’t be too much of a stretch.
    — Philip Elliott, Time, 13 July 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'misfire.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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