backfire

verbhave an opposite effect

Word Origin & History

1839, American English, originally "a fire deliberately lit ahead of an advancing prairie fire to deprive it of fuel," from back (adj.) + fire (n.). As a verb in this sense, recorded from 1886. The meaning "premature ignition in an internal-combustion engine" is first recorded 1897. Of schemes, plans, etc., "to affect the initiator rather than the intended object" it is attested from 1912, a figurative use from the accidental back-firing of firearms.

Example Sentences for backfire

He got three chugs and a backfire into the carburetor, and after that silence.

After—as I said before, on the first shot, it was too sharp to be a backfire of an automobile.

It had caught fire from the backfire of the engine and the exhaust, but was not yet in a decided blaze.

They must backfire for a third of a mile before they dared hope the place was safe.

If you have to burn off the rubbish, do so in small spots at a time, then backfire toward the center.

Not having a carburetor the engine could not backfire, further reducing the fire hazard.

Mr. Dilly was in the Woodruff District to build a backfire against this conflagration of the county superintendent.

The backfire had burned for many yards westward, to meet the threatening wave of flame flying on the wings of the wind.

Soon he came to a place where someone else had obviously worked on a backfire.

The scene was getting weird and a return of the storm, a sort of backfire, made the whole thing seem uncanny.

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Synonyms for backfire

verb have an opposite effect

backfire

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exploding

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backfire

Synonyms for backfire

Antonyms for backfire

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exploded

exploding

explosion

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backlash