backfire
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
During the first hour, pine grove owners urged fire commanders to light a backfire a few hundred yards from Le Porge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
Telling people what they should and shouldn’t do can backfire.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
But there’s no way this could possibly backfire, right?
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
But marketing buzz can fade, and poor perceptions regarding quality and sustainability can backfire on a company.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
I realize this could all backfire terribly, but it feels like my only option.
From "I Am the Messenger" by Markus Zusak
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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
"Discord could lose users if its implementation of age verification backfires, but it could equally attract more new users who will be drawn to its new standards for online safety by design," he said.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2026
Officers potentially wasting thousands of hours in pursuit of car backfires and construction noise mislabeled as gunfire has not deterred the New York Police Department from continuing to use it.
From Salon ● Feb. 8, 2026
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
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That $2.4 billion deal has backfired on Dick’s Sporting Goods.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
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
Seemed like Dad’s plan to show up Eugene Hammond had backfired on us all.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
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Nestlé tweaked its portfolio, but investors say some acquisitions were a distraction, backfiring as the company expanded into non-core areas.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
The critics argue Lemssouguer relies heavily on borrowed money, or leverage, to boost profits, a strategy prone to backfiring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026
Sullivan warned that changes to VA policy that take decision-making out of veterans’ control is a risk that could seriously backfiring.
From Salon ● Mar. 14, 2026
At around that time, those price increases started backfiring.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 25, 2025
The only problem being, of course, that whenever you ran an operation that was not aboveboard there was a certain risk of it backfiring into a worse situation than it had been before.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
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Vocabulary lists containing backfire
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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"Laws are not the only way to boost immunization”: an editorial from Nature
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Catching Fire
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