backfire - Definition from the COLOURS AND SOUNDS topic - COLOURS AND SOUNDS

Topic: COLOURS AND SOUNDS

backfire
verb

back‧fire

See pronunciation table in "How to use dictionary" pages

[intransitive]

1 if a plan or action backfires, it has the opposite effect to the one you intended:

Look up a word starting with D or S for samples of headword or sentence pronunciations on the LDOCE CD-ROM

The company's new policy backfired when a number of employees threatened to quit.

2TTCC if a car backfires, it makes a sudden loud noise because the engine is not working correctly

Definition of backfire from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English within
the topic COLOURS AND SOUNDS

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