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.
It’s true that forced treatment doesn’t always get the desired outcome, and can backfire if it makes the person more resistant to treatment.
From Los Angeles Times
The Beatles’ attempt to protect their income stream would backfire twice, costing them control of their own songs, but it also helped shape one of today’s most coveted asset classes.
Tech companies as well as some digital-rights and children’s groups, however, say age-limit measures are blunt instruments that are likely to backfire.
That has the potential to backfire, he and others said.
From Los Angeles Times
It was a high-risk strategy and there were moments in the first 45 minutes when it looked like it might backfire.
From BBC
From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.
