How to use backfire in a sentence

Examples of backfire by meaning

More sentences with backfire

• His underhanded trick backfired and he was disqualified.From the entry underhanded
• A well-timed engine with an unaggressive cam profile will purr like a kitten and is unlikely to backfire even upon sudden throttle changes.From the entry well-timed
• While they can certainly force feed more Canadian content to users, the move would likely backfire.2022 September 23, Sabrina Maddeaux, “C-11 presents more holes than solutions”, in National Post, volume 24, number 275, Toronto, Ont.…. From the entry watchtime
• It was a big backfire, a cheap shot that fell to the floor.2019 September 13, Timothy Egan, “It Will Take More Than Cheap Shots to Knock Off Biden”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the…. From the entry cheap shot
• The backfiring of Shirtgate created a temporary pause in the Big Panic, and revealed a basic truth.2016, Jerry Barnett, Porn Panic!: Sex and Censorship in the UK. From the entry Shirtgate
• Seen smiling and laughing with the upper-crust golfers is a risk that could backfire.2005, Thomas Morrison, Year 2040. An American Story: Liberty Or Death In 2040, iUniverse, →ISBN, page unnamed. From the entry sportsballer
• Talking of backfire, frontfire or whatever, John Carroll can give it both barrels, and simultaneously.2002 August 18, Liam Griffin, “For the championship’s sake, it must be Tipp”, in Sunday Tribune (Dublin, Ireland). From the entry frontfire
• Calvin: Our great plan backfired and I'm the one who got soaked!a. 1994, Bill Watterson, Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat, Andrews McMeel, page 168. From the entry ignominy
• In fact the whole thing sorta backfired on old Chuck—and on me and Pete too.1993 July, William R. Scott, “Sort of a Hero”, in Scott Stuckey, editor, Boys’ Life, volume LXXXIII, number 7, Irving, Tex.: Boy Scouts of…. From the entry sorta
• The plan backfired – Pruitt was forced to resign – but he got some of it right in the process.2019 March 25, Richard Cooke, Tired of Winning: A Chronicle of American Decline, Black Inc., →ISBN. From the entry vice signalling
• Attempts to compel ordinary people to use the “preferred pronouns” of TRAs will backfire as this is coercion.2018, Una-Jane Winfield, written evidence submitted to the Gender Recognition Act 2004 consultation in the United Kingdom in 2018, page 2. From the entry tra
• I realized that speaking up now might backfire on me later, but there was a slim chance it could frontfire, too.2010, Steve Pavlina, Personal Development for Smart People, →ISBN, page vi. From the entry frontfire
• I had to think quickly, something that wouldn't backfire.2010, Ann Aguirre, Hell Fire, page 304. From the entry monkey paw
• Lish’s charge of anti-Semitism had backfired with a number of the faculty, who were quite belligerently anti-Semitic themselves.1989, John Irving, chapter 7, in A Prayer for Owen Meany, New York: William Morrow, page 338. From the entry belligerently
• The verbal weapons borrowed from Lu Hsun backfired.1977, Roxane Witke, Comrade Chiang Chʻing, Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 472. From the entry gang of four
• If wit enhances meaning, this systematic reductiveness is antiwit, ultimately reduced to an infantile practical joke that backfires.1977, George deForest Lord, Heroic Mockery: Variations on Epic Themes from Homer to Joyce, page 74. From the entry antiwit
• One well-known example is electricity usage, where the Jevons paradox explains how making appliances more energy efficient can backfire by stimulating demand.2019 November 1, Oliver Burkeman, “Not enough hours in the day? Well, finding more may not help”, in The Guardian. From the entry Jevons paradox
• The sort of backfire characteristic of the 'euphemism treadmill' is a shift to case i: the tone reverts to that of the old term.2011, Gary Hardcastle, George Reisch, Bullshit and Philosophy: Guaranteed to Get Perfect Results Every Time. From the entry euphemism treadmill
• After an unsuccessful attempt to have The Grapes of Wrath banned statewide (the effort backfired), the AF commissioned and distributed a barrage of counternarratives.2005, Douglas Cazaux Sackman, Orange Empire: California and the Fruits of Eden, University of California Press,, →ISBN, page 280. From the entry statewide
• The desire to take it out fast can backfire when the swimmers goes into a vertical body position in the final 10 meters.2001, Dick Hannula, The Swim Coaching Bible, Volume II, page 182. From the entry overswim
• We have used this method in the evening when strip headfires would burn into the wetline, but the backfire would go out.1977, Robert E. Martin, Wetline Technique for Prescribed Burning Firelines in Rangeland. From the entry wetline
• He leaned the mixture in an effort to cause a backfire through the carburetor, the generally accepted method of breaking the ice loose.1938 July, Harold Blaine Miller, Dupont Miller, “Weather Hop”, in Boys' Life, Boy Scouts of America, →ISSN, page 25. From the entry lean
• It is commonly defined as a phenomenon in which an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information on the web backfires, causing greater publicity.2009, John W. Dozier, Sue Scheff, Google Bomb: The Untold Story of the $11.3M Verdict That Changed the Way We Use the Internet, HCI…. From the entry Streisand effect
• Given the potential differences in norms, an appeal to moral obligation regarding GHG emissions limits could even backfire, if it were seen in China as patronizing and ecoimperialist.2007, Jonathan B Wiener, “Climate change policy and policy change in China”, in UCLA Law Review. From the entry ecoimperialist
• Several anti-Microsofters just got through posting comments about how this Mono thing "cut off Bill's balls" or something similar and was turning "extend and embrace" around to backfire on Microsoft.2001 July 12, Java Fan -2 + -2, “Re: Mono Project = Monkey Project - Open Source .Net”, in comp.lang.java.advocacy (Usenet). From the entry anti-Microsofter

Meaning of backfire

1. noun A premature explosion in the cylinder of a gas or oil engine during the exhaust or the compression stroke, tending to drive the piston in the wrong direction.
2. noun An explosion in the exhaust passages of an internal combustion engine.
3. noun An explosion in other equipment.

Full definition of backfire

More about backfire

• Meaning of backfire
• Past tense of backfire
• Plural of backfire
• Backfire in Hindi
• Backfire in Marathi
• Backfire in Bengali
• Backfire in Telugu

Questions about backfire in a sentence

How do you use backfire in a sentence?

Backfire is used as a noun and verb. For example: “His attempt to make money by importing luxury cars backfired horribly when fuel prices tripled.”

What is a short sentence with backfire?

“This assumption backfired spectacularly.”

What does backfire mean?

Backfire means a premature explosion in the cylinder of a gas or oil engine during the exhaust or the compression stroke, tending to drive the piston in the wrong direction.