Word: miss Part of Speech: verb Etymology: 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”). Pronunciation: /mɪs/ 1. To fail to hit, catch, grasp, etc. Labels: ambitransitive, physical Example: I fired the gun, but the bullet missed the target. Example: I tried to kick the ball, but missed. 2. To avoid hitting. Labels: ambitransitive, physical Example: The driver swerved and just managed to miss the chicken crossing the road. 3. To fail to achieve or attain. Labels: transitive Example: The company missed all its sales targets. Example: When a man misses his great end, happiness, he will acknowledge he judged not right. 4. To fail to experience, attend, partake, take advantage of, etc. Labels: transitive Example: Joe missed the meeting this morning. Example: I usually watch the Oscars Ceremonies, but I missed it this year. 5. To avoid or escape. Labels: transitive Example: The car just missed hitting a passer-by. Example: We missed disaster by the skin of our teeth. 6. 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. Labels: transitive Example: I miss you! Come home soon! Example: I miss going for walks along the beach. 7. To fail to understand. Labels: transitive Example: to miss the joke 8. To fail to notice; to have a shortcoming of perception; overlook. Labels: transitive Example: So I'm just going over my early notes, see if I missed anything. 9. To be too late to connect with or meet something or someone (a means of transportation, a deadline, etc.). Labels: transitive Example: I missed the plane! Example: "Is Polly still here?" — "No, sorry, you've just missed her. She left a couple of minutes ago." 10. To be wanting; to lack something that should be present (see also adjectival missing). Labels: transitive Example: The car is missing essential features. Example: This jigsaw is missing several pieces. 11. To spare someone of something unwanted or undesirable. Labels: slang, transitive Example: Miss me with that nonsense! 12. To fail to help the hand of a player. Example: Player A: J7. Player B: Q6. Table: 283. The flop missed both players! 13. To fail to score (a goal). Example: 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. 14. To go wrong; to err. Labels: intransitive, obsolete Example: Emongst the Angels, a whole legione / Of wicked Sprights did fall from happy blis; / What wonder then, if one of women all did mis? 15. To be absent, deficient, or wanting. Labels: intransitive, obsolete Example: What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.