MISS

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Miss mean? 

• MISS (noun)
  The noun MISS has 3 senses:

1. a young female

2. a failure to hit (or meet or find etc)

3. a form of address for an unmarried woman

  Familiarity information: MISS used as a noun is uncommon.

• MISS (verb)
  The verb MISS has 9 senses:

1. fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind

2. feel or suffer from the lack of

3. fail to attend an event or activity

4. leave undone or leave out

5. fail to reach or get to

6. be without

7. fail to reach

8. be absent

9. fail to experience

  Familiarity information: MISS used as a verb is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MISS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A young female

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

fille; girl; miss; missy; young lady; young woman

Context example:

a young lady of 18

Hypernyms ("miss" is a kind of...):

adult female; woman (an adult female person (as opposed to a man))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "miss"):

bimbo (a young woman indulged by rich and powerful older men)

working girl (a young woman who is employed)

valley girl (a girl who grew up in the tract housing in the San Fernando Valley)

hoyden; romp; tomboy (a girl who behaves in a boyish manner)

sweater girl (a girl with an attractive bust who wears tight sweaters)

soubrette (a pert or flirtatious young girl)

shop girl (a young female shop assistant)

sex bomb; sex kitten; sexpot (a young woman who is thought to have sex appeal)

rosebud ((a literary reference to) a pretty young girl)

ring girl (a young woman who holds up cards indicating the number of the next round at prize fights)

peri (a beautiful and graceful girl)

party girl (an attractive young woman hired to attend parties and entertain men)

mill-girl (a girl who works in a mill)

maid; maiden (an unmarried girl (especially a virgin))

belle (a young woman who is the most charming and beautiful of several rivals)

chachka; tchotchke; tchotchkeleh; tsatske; tshatshke ((Yiddish) an attractive, unconventional woman)

chit (a dismissive term for a girl who is immature or who lacks respect)

colleen (an Irish girl)

bird; chick; dame; doll; skirt; wench (informal terms for a (young) woman)

flapper (a young woman in the 1920s who flaunted her unconventional conduct and dress)

gal (alliterative term for girl (or woman))

gamine (a girl of impish appeal)

Gibson girl (the idealized American girl of the 1890s as pictured by C. D. Gibson)

jeune fille; lass; lassie; young girl (a girl or young woman who is unmarried)

May queen; queen of the May (the girl chosen queen of a May Day festival)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A failure to hit (or meet or find etc)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

misfire; miss

Hypernyms ("miss" is a kind of...):

failure (an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose)

Derivation:

miss (fail to reach)

miss (fail to reach or get to)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A form of address for an unmarried woman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("Miss" is a kind of...):

form of address; title; title of respect (an identifying appellation signifying status or function: e.g. 'Mr.' or 'General')

• MISS (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

lose; miss

Context example:

We lost part of what he said

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "miss"):

overlook (look past, fail to notice)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Feel or suffer from the lack of

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Context example:

He misses his mother

Hypernyms (to "miss" is one way to...):

desire; want (feel or have a desire for; want strongly)

"Miss" entails doing...:

regret; repent; rue (feel remorse for; feel sorry for; be contrite about)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "miss"):

regret (feel sad about the loss or absence of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They miss moving

Sense 3

Meaning:

Fail to attend an event or activity

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

He missed school for a week

Hypernyms (to "miss" is one way to...):

fail; neglect (fail to do something; leave something undone)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "miss"):

cut; skip (intentionally fail to attend)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

attend (be present at (meetings, church services, university), etc.)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Leave undone or leave out

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

drop; leave out; miss; neglect; omit; overleap; overlook; pretermit

Context example:

The workers on the conveyor belt miss one out of ten

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "miss"):

forget (forget to do something)

jump; pass over; skip; skip over (bypass)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s to INFINITIVE

Sense 5

Meaning:

Fail to reach or get to

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

She missed her train

Hypernyms (to "miss" is one way to...):

fail; go wrong; miscarry (be unsuccessful)

"Miss" entails doing...:

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

miss (a failure to hit (or meet or find etc))

Sense 6

Meaning:

Be without

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

lack; miss

Context example:

There is something missing in my jewelry box!

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "miss"):

want (be without, lack; be deficient in)

exclude (lack or fail to include)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Antonym:

have (have as a feature)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Fail to reach

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

The arrow missed the target

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "miss"):

overshoot (shoot beyond or over (a target))

undershoot (shoot short of or below (a target))

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Antonym:

hit (hit against; come into sudden contact with)

Derivation:

miss (a failure to hit (or meet or find etc))

Sense 8

Meaning:

Be absent

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

The child had been missing for a week

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 9

Meaning:

Fail to experience

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

escape; miss

Context example:

Fortunately, I missed the hurricane

Hypernyms (to "miss" is one way to...):

avoid (stay clear from; keep away from; keep out of the way of someone or something)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

I have asked her to send me her maid, that I may ask just one or two question, that so I may not chance to miss nothing.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I was among the missing dead of the Martinez disaster, an unrecovered body.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“Here! Peggotty!” cried Miss Betsey, opening the parlour door.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This was François’s speech next morning when he discovered Spitz missing and Buck covered with wounds.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

I have here four letters which purport to come from the missing man.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Lestrade, allow me to present you with your principal missing witness, Mr. Jonas Oldacre.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I do not think her name is Miss Girvan, which other people call her.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

For my own part I performed my usual role of bringing things down to a strictly prosaic and practical level by the remark that one of the Indians was missing.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"You are a strange child, Miss Jane," she said, as she looked down at me; "a little roving, solitary thing: and you are going to school, I suppose?"

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"How is your cat, Miss March?" asked the boy, trying to look sober while his black eyes shone with fun.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)