Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Backfire |
BackfireNoun1. A loud noise made by the explosion of fuel in the manifold or exhaust of an internal combustion engine. 2. A miscalculation that recoils on its maker. Verb1. Have an unexpected and undesired effect; "Your comments may backfire and cause you a lot of trouble". 2. Emit a loud noise as a result of undergoing a backfire, as of cars. 3. Set a controlled fire to halt an advancing forest to prairie fire. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Mechanical Engineering | A premature ignition in an internal combustion engine, tending to drive the engine in the opposite direction of normal rotation, or any explosion in the intake or exhaust system of any engine. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | A. A fire started to burn against and cut off a spreading fire b. An explosion in the intake or exhaust passages of an engin. (references) |
Public Administration | A)a fire set along the inner edge of a control line to consume the fuel in the path of a forest fire and/or change the direction of force of the fire's convection column; b)a prescribed burning against the wind. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: BackfireSynonyms: boomerang (n), backlash (v). (additional references) |
| Synonyms by domain: back-fire (public administration, food & agriculture). |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Insulation, Fire extinction | Backfire, firebreak, trench; aerial water bombardment. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Backfire |
| English words defined with "backfire": backblast, backlash. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Backfire (1961) Pardon My Backfire (1953) Backfire (1950) Backfire! (1995) Backfire (1991) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Firefighter starts backfire near Ely, Nevada, August 1999. Credit: Unknown. |  | Backfire. Credit: Unknown. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| "Backfire" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 49.02% of the time. "Backfire" is used about 51 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 49.02% | 25 | 69,787 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 33.33% | 17 | 85,106 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 17.65% | 9 | 117,287 |
| Total | 100.00% | 51 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Language | Translations for "backfire"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | zjarr franues, uturin (rattle, whir), plasje (bang, blast, blowout, blowup, burst, cleavage, detonation, plunk, report), krisma në marmitë, dështoj (abort, fail, fall down, fall short, fall short of, fall through, flop, go down the drain, go phut, lose, lose out, miscarry). (various references) | |
Arabic | إشتعال الوقود قبل الأوان, أعطى نتائج عكسية. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | аванс (advance, sub). (various references) | |
Chinese | 迎火 (Back-fire). (various references) | |
Czech | selhat (abort, break down, come to nothing, fail, fall down on the job, fizzle out, give out, go wrong, lapse, miscarry, misfire), předèasnì zapalovat. (various references) | |
Danish | tilbagetænding (arc back, arc-back, back-fire, flashback), tilbageslag (kickback, rebound), modild (backburn), gentænding (arc back, flashback). (various references) | |
Dutch | terugslag (arc back, arc-back, atavism, back-fire, bounce, choc en retour, flashback, flyback, kickback, rebound, rebound effect, relapse, retrace, throw back), tegenvuur (backburn), knallen (crack). (various references) | |
Farsi | پس زدن تفنگ , منفجرشدن قبل ازموقع , نتیجه معکوس گرفتن . (various references) | |
Finnish | vastatuli (backburn), takaisku (back kick, set-back), purkauksen takaisinlyönti (arc back, arc-back, back-fire, flashback), paukahtelu, liekin takaisinlyönti (arc back, arc-back, back-fire, flashback), ennakkosyttyminen. (various references) | |
French | retour de flamme, retour d'arc (arc back, back-fire), raté (bad), pétard (banger, whizz bang), pétarader, contre-feu, contrefeu (backburn), claquement (bang, banging), claquage, avoir un raté, allumer un contre-feu, allumage en retour (arc back, back-fire). (various references) | |
German | Fehlzündung (misfire, misfiring). (various references) | |
Greek | πρόωροσ ανάφλεξη, εκρήγνυμαι πρόωρα, αναστροφή της φλόγας στο εσωτερικό, αντεμπρησμός,πυρκαγιά ελέγχου (backburn), αντίπυρ (backburn), οπισθοσπινθήρας (arc back, flashback). (various references) | |
Hebrew | ל"ביא תוצאות "פוכות. (various references) | |
Hungarian | utógyújtás (back fire, late ignition). (various references) | |
Italian | ritorno di fiamma. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 逆効果 (counterproductive, opposite effect), 裏目 , バチカン宮殿 (Bacchus, bacillus, back, back charge, back combing, back issue, back margin, back music, back screen, back-band, backbone, back-drop, backgammon, background, background music, backhand, backing, backless, backlog, back-number, backpack, backpacking, back-propagation, backs, backskin, backslash, backspace, backspin, backstab, backstop, backstretch, backstroke, backswing, backtrack, back-tracking, backup, badge, BADGE system, bag, batch, batch size, bathyscaphe, batter in the hole, buckle, bug, bugging, merchandise obtained by buying out the inventories of failed retailers instead of going through normal wholesale channels, rearview mirror, suplex, Vatican), 向かい火 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ぎゃく"うか (counterproductive, opposite effect), ぎゃっ"うか (counterproductive, opposite effect), バックファイア , うらめ, むかいひ. (various references) | |
Manx | cooyl-pholtal, cooyl-pholt. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ackfirebay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | retorno de chama, rebentamento (disruption), produzir efeitos negativos, explosão (blast, burst, bursting, bust, detonation, discharge, eruption, explosion, outbreak, outburst, upsurge), estalido (clack, click, crack, cracking, crackling, flaw, flick, flip, snap), contra-fogo (backburn), contrafogo (backburn). (various references) | |
Russian | встречный огонь, обратный действие, обратная вспышка. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | povratno paljenje. (various references) | |
Spanish | retorno de llama, petardeo (backfiring), contrafuego (backburn). (various references) | |
Swedish | baktändning (backdrop), bakslag (atavism, backset, rebound, rebuff, recession, reverse, setback, set-back). (various references) | |
Turkish | ters gitmek (back fire, go awry, go wrong, miscarry, not to go well), ters gitme (back fire), geri tepmek (back fire, boomerang, kick, kick back, recoil, recoil on), geri tepme (back fire, jump, kick, reaction, rebound, recoil, repercussion, repulse, repulsion, return, reverse), aleyhine dönmek (back fire, turn against, turn on, turn to one's disadvantage, turn upon). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "backfire": backfired, backfires. (additional references) | |
| |
"Backfire" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: bakefire, Bakfark, bicchiere. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "backfire" (pronounced ba"kfī'r) |
| 3 | -f ī' r | brushfire, foxfire, gunfire, hellfire. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: fireback. | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-c-e-f-i-k-r" | |
-2 letters: backer, bicker, biface, cakier, caribe, fabric, farcie, fiacre. | |
-3 letters: acerb, afire, areic, baker, baric, biker, brace, brake, break, brick, brief, caber, ceiba, ceria, crake, creak, erica, facer, faker, fakir, farce, farci, feria, fiber, fibre, freak, icker, kafir, kebar, kefir, rabic. | |
-4 letters: abri, acre, back, bake, bare, barf, bark, beak, bear, beck, bice, bier. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-c-e-f-i-k-r" | |
+1 letter: backfired, backfires, firebacks. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Derivations 11. Rhymes 12. Anagrams | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
