backfire

Stephen Courtright, director of the Flippen Leadership Institute at Texas A&M, says his executive-education programs are full of managers who worry that good intentions will backfire.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

But there’s no way this could possibly backfire, right?

From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026

“Law enforcement has good intentions but they sometimes backfire with unintended consequences. Often, the more laws you create to prevent people from having a reptile, the more they want them. But sometimes prohibition does work.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Estate planning can backfire for those who get overwhelmed.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 25, 2026

Thanks to her maddening pep, though, it may backfire.

From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper

The company has long relied on this high-yielding equity as its primary engine to bankroll Bitcoin acquisitions—a strategy that backfires when the shares lose ground.

From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026

All of the above comes with a caveat: Unbridled choice often backfires.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026

Is there a chance this really backfires, then?

From Slate ● Jan. 13, 2026

The programme describes it as a hero's plot for peace that backfires with drastic consequences.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2025

While groans, fiendish gurglings and backfires were emitting from the barn, the house itself would be organized confusion, as the family carried out its preparations in accordance with prearranged plans.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

The last time they tried, it backfired spectacularly.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

But a police crackdown on crowds marching towards parliament on July 20 backfired, galvanising support for the movement and transforming anger over exam leaks into a broader expression of youth frustration.

From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026

The chain has experienced other problems as well, including remodels that backfired, agitation among activist investors and same-store sales that have wobbled over Masino’s three-year tenure.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

On one occasion, turning to the bot for help navigating an in-person chat with friends actually backfired on her.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

They admired him, sure, but didn’t want to get too close in case something backfired.

From "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier

"These things are backfiring," he said, adding that "the regulatory environment is obviously not helping Europe or France."

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

But Frazer Rhodes, who worked in government across a decade to help build the technology and devise high thresholds for the alerts, feels a review is now necessary to avoid future ones backfiring.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

In fact, it is backfiring, dusting the world in optimistic, spring-flower pink schadenfreude.

From Salon ● May 16, 2026

The strategy started backfiring unexpectedly in recent months.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026

Like the rest of the Wizarding world, Bathilda puts Kendra’s premature death down to a backfiring charm, a story repeated by Albus and Aberforth in later years.

From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling