# miss

Pronunciation: say "MIS" /mɪs/

## Verb

1. To fail to attend, experience, or take advantage of something.
   - Simple: To not go to or take part in something, like an event or a chance.
   - _Don't miss this rare chance to study abroad._
   - _He missed the entire festival because of work._
2. To feel sadness or longing at the absence of someone or something; to become aware of and regret a loss.
   - Simple: To feel sad because someone or something you care about is not with you.
   - _She misses her hometown most during the holidays._
   - _Soldiers stationed abroad often miss the simple comforts of home._
3. To fail to notice or perceive something; to overlook.
   - Simple: To not see or notice something.
   - _The editor missed several typos in the final draft._
   - _Sharp inspectors rarely miss a hidden defect._
4. To arrive or act too late to connect with a means of transportation, meet a deadline, or reach someone.
   - Simple: To arrive too late to catch a bus, train, or to meet a time limit.
   - _If the meeting runs long, she'll miss her flight home._
   - _He missed the application deadline by a single day._
5. To fail to hit, catch, reach, or score with something aimed at or reached for, such as a ball, target, or goal.
   - Simple: To not hit, catch, or score with something you aim at or reach for.
   - _The striker swung at the ball but missed by a wide margin._
   - _Archers who miss the target by inches still lose the round._
6. To fall short of achieving or attaining something aimed for.
   - Simple: To not reach a goal or result you were trying for.
   - _The team missed the playoffs by a single point._
   - _Students who miss the passing grade may retake the exam._
8. To fail to grasp the meaning or significance of something.
   - Simple: To not understand the meaning of something.
   - _She missed the irony in his remark entirely._
   - _Listeners who miss the subtext often misread the whole speech._
13. To avoid hitting, meeting, or experiencing something, especially something unpleasant.
   - Simple: To get past something without hitting it or having to deal with it.
   - _The pilot banked hard to miss the mountain ridge._
   - _She swerved just in time to miss a deer standing in the road._
16. To spare a person from something unwelcome or annoying. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To save someone from something bad or annoying.
   - _Miss me with the corporate jargon and just tell me the plan._
   - _You can miss me with those weak excuses._
18. In card games, to fail to improve or complete a player's hand.
   - Simple: In card games, to not improve a player's hand.
   - _If you miss the flop with weak cards, it is usually smart to fold._
   - _He chased his straight draw all the way, missed on the river, and lost the pot._
9. To lack something that should be present; to be without (chiefly in progressive forms, as in a book missing two pages).
   - Simple: To not be there, or to not have something that should be there.

## Noun

7. A title used before the name of an unmarried woman, or alone as a form of address, including by pupils to a female teacher.
   - Simple: A polite word used before an unmarried woman's name, or to speak to a woman or female teacher.
   - _Miss Bennet declined the invitation with a polite smile._
   - _Right this way, miss. The doctor will see you now._
10. An attempt that fails to strike its target.
   - Simple: An attempt to hit something that does not connect.
   - _After one wild miss, the batter finally hit the ball hard._
   - _Two early misses cost the archer the championship._
11. An instance of failing to obtain or accomplish something; a failure to succeed.
   - Simple: A try at something that does not work out.
   - _Critics called the album a rare miss for the band._
   - _Her business ventures were a string of hits and misses._
12. A person or thing whose loss or absence is keenly felt. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Someone or something that people feel sad to lose or be without.
   - _Our retiring coach will be a real miss next season._
   - _Everyone on our street agrees the little bakery will be a big miss._
14. A deliberate avoidance of something, typically expressed as giving something a miss.
   - Simple: A choice to stay away from or skip something.
   - _They gave the meeting a miss and went home early._
   - _She gave the crowded sale a miss this year._
15. A young unmarried woman; a girl.
   - Simple: A young unmarried woman or girl.
   - _A pert young miss answered the door._
   - _The waiter smiled and asked the young miss what she would like to order._
17. An occasion when requested data is not present in the cache and must be loaded from slower memory.
   - Simple: A time when something is not found in a computer's quick-access memory.
   - _A single cache miss can cost hundreds of processor cycles._
   - _The profiler counts every miss so engineers can tune memory access._

## Noun

19. A woman maintained by a man as his mistress. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A woman that a man pays for and keeps as his lover.
21. An error, fault, or sin; a wrongdoing. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A wrong or sinful act, or a fault.
22. Hurt or harm resulting from a mistake or accident. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Harm or hurt caused by a mistake or accident.
23. Loss, lack, or want of something; hence, the felt experience of its absence. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A loss or lack of something, and the feeling of missing it.

## Verb

20. To go wrong; to make an error. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To do something wrong or make a mistake.

## Other meanings

- (noun) In snooker, a foul where the referee judges that the player failed to hit the target ball without making every effort to play legally; points are conceded and the shot may be replayed.
- (noun) In three-card loo, an extra hand dealt onto the table which a player may take in place of the hand originally dealt to them.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–6, 8–14, 16–18, 20–23** — The verb comes from Middle English "missen" and Old English "missan" ("to miss, escape someone's notice"), from Proto-Germanic *missijaną ("to miss, go wrong, fail") and ultimately a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to change, exchange." It is related to Dutch "missen," German "missen," and Swedish "missa." The noun comes from Old English "miss" ("loss, absence"), from a Proto-Germanic root meaning "loss."
**Meanings 7, 15, 19** — This sense comes from the word "mistress."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/miss (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).