Backfire
English
Etymology
Verb
Backfire (third-person singular simple present Backfires, present participle backfiring, simple past and past participle backfired)
- (Of a gun or cannon) to fire in the opposite direction, for example due to an obstruction in the barrel.
- To fail in a manner that brings down further misfortune.
Noun
Backfire (plural Backfires)- (firefighting) Alternative spelling of back fire.
Thesaurus
backlash, backlashing, balefire, bang, beacon, beacon fire, blast, blaze, blow out, blow up, blowout, blowup, bonfire, boom, boomerang, bounce, bounce back, bound, bound back, burning ghat, burst, bust, campfire, cannon, cannon off, carom, cheerful fire, combustion, come to grief, comeback, conflagration, contrecoup, corposant, counterattack, counterblast, counterblow, counterfire, counterinsurgency, countermeasure, counterrevolution, counterstep, counterstroke, cozy fire, crackling fire, crematory, death fire, defense, detonate, detonation, discharge, explode, explosion, fall through, fen fire, fire, fizzle, flame, flare, flash, flashing point, flicker, flickering flame, fly back, forest fire, fox fire, fulguration, fulminate, fulmination, funeral pyre, go off, have repercussions, ignis fatuus, ignition, ingle, kick, kick back, kickback, lambent flame, lash back, lay an egg, let off, marshfire, miscarry, miss, open fire, prairie fire, pyre, raging fire, rebound, rebuff, recalcitrate, recalcitration, recoil, repercuss, repercussion, report, repulse, resile, resilience, retort, ricochet, sea of flames, set off, sheet of fire, shoot, signal beacon, smudge fire, snap back, spring, spring back, three-alarm fire, touch off, two-alarm fire, watch fire, wildfire, witch fire
