backfire

1. 1.

   the backward escape of gases and unburned gunpowder after a gun is fired

   Synonymsblowback

   Broaderexplosion

   Narrowerbackblast
2. 2.

   a loud noise made by the explosion of fuel in the manifold or exhaust of an internal combustion engine

   Broaderexplosion
3. 3.

   a fire that is set intentionally in order to slow an approaching forest fire or grassfire by clearing a burned area in its path

   Broaderfire
4. 4.

   a miscalculation that recoils on its maker

   Synonymsboomerang

   Broadermiscalculation

1. 1.

   come back to the originator of an action with an undesired effect

   “Your comments may backfire and cause you a lot of trouble”

   “the political movie backlashed on the Democrats”

   Synonymsbacklashrecoil

   Broaderhappen
2. 2.

   emit a loud noise as a result of undergoing a backfire

   “My old car backfires all the time”

   Broadermake noise
3. 3.

   set a controlled fire to halt an advancing forest to prairie fire

   Broaderburn

Other forms of backfire

plural

backfires·

past tense

backfired·

present participle

backfiring·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about backfire

What does backfire mean?

backfire means "the backward escape of gases and unburned gunpowder after a gun is fired". That is the primary sense; the word has 7 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in backfire?

backfire has 2 syllables: back-fire. The stress falls on "back". In IPA it is /ˈbækˌfaɪɹ/.

What is another word for backfire?

Close synonyms include blowback, boomerang, backlash, recoil. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is backfire a common word?

backfire is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

What rhymes with backfire?

2 words rhyme with backfire. Rhymes are matched on the phonemes from the last stressed vowel onward, which is the definition a reader has in their head.