near miss

Alternative forms

 * near-miss

Noun

 * 1) A miss which was nearly a hit or collision.
 * 2) * 1975 John F. Hilgenberg; quoted in Arthur J. C. Lavalle, Last flight from Saigon (USAF, 1978), p.101:
 * ... two aircraft, one flying level across the field, another climbing after a missed approach, had an extremely near miss, in my estimation, less than 50 feet, before the lower pilot saw the higher aircraft and broke violently to the right in the darkness.
 * 1)  A scenario which ends safely but might well have ended in disaster.
 * 2)  An attempt which fails narrowly; a performance which falls just short of a certain benchmark.
 * 1)  A scenario which ends safely but might well have ended in disaster.
 * 2)  An attempt which fails narrowly; a performance which falls just short of a certain benchmark.
 * 1)  An attempt which fails narrowly; a performance which falls just short of a certain benchmark.
 * 1)  An attempt which fails narrowly; a performance which falls just short of a certain benchmark.

Usage notes
It is sometimes claimed that concept of a near miss would be better expressed as near hit. However, near is used in the phrase with the sense "close" (compare "near future", "near neighbour") rather than the sense "approximate" (compare "near certainty", "near standstill").

Synonyms

 * close shave, narrow escape, dodging a bullet

Antonyms

 * direct hit
 * fiasco, rout

Translations

 * Italian: per un pelo
 * Slovak: tesnotka, o chlp