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Antonyms for backfire

Grammar : Verb
Spell : bak-fahyuhr
Phonetic Transcription : ˈbækˌfaɪər

Definition of backfire

Origin :
  • 1839, American English, originally "a fire deliberately lit ahead of an advancing prairie fire to deprive it of fuel," from back (adj.) + fire (n.). As a verb in this sense, recorded from 1886. The meaning "premature ignition in an internal-combustion engine" is first recorded 1897. Of schemes, plans, etc., "to affect the initiator rather than the intended object" it is attested from 1912, a figurative use from the accidental back-firing of firearms.
  • verb have an opposite effect
Example sentences :
  • He got three chugs and a backfire into the carburetor, and after that silence.
  • Extract from : « Cabin Fever » by B. M. Bower
  • After—as I said before, on the first shot, it was too sharp to be a backfire of an automobile.
  • Extract from : « Warren Commission (7 of 26): Hearings Vol. VII (of 15) » by The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
  • It had caught fire from the backfire of the engine and the exhaust, but was not yet in a decided blaze.
  • Extract from : « Lest We Forget » by John Gilbert Thompson
  • They must backfire for a third of a mile before they dared hope the place was safe.
  • Extract from : « Chicken Little Jane on the Big John » by Lily Munsell Ritchie
  • If you have to burn off the rubbish, do so in small spots at a time, then backfire toward the center.
  • Extract from : « The Pony Rider Boys in New England » by Frank Gee Patchin
  • Not having a carburetor the engine could not backfire, further reducing the fire hazard.
  • Extract from : « The First Airplane Diesel Engine: Packard Model DR-980 of 1928 » by Robert B. Meyer
  • Mr. Dilly was in the Woodruff District to build a backfire against this conflagration of the county superintendent.
  • Extract from : « The Brown Mouse » by Herbert Quick
  • The backfire had burned for many yards westward, to meet the threatening wave of flame flying on the wings of the wind.
  • Extract from : « Frances of the Ranges » by Amy Bell Marlowe
  • Soon he came to a place where someone else had obviously worked on a backfire.
  • Extract from : « Bill Bruce on Forest Patrol » by Henry Harley Arnold
  • The scene was getting weird and a return of the storm, a sort of backfire, made the whole thing seem uncanny.
  • Extract from : « Jane Allen: Center » by Edith Bancroft

Synonyms for backfire

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019