backfire
1
6.2
- noun
- /ˈbækˌfaɪər/
:
efecto contraproducente
- Many investors feared that the new policy could lead to a backfire, damaging the company's reputation in the market.
Examples
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By the way, this whole thing backfired because Bernie is now almost the forerunner and and Warren, she's like dead.
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So this ad, these adversarial interactions might actually backfire in the sense that they might not foster integration, but actually sort of make things worse.
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Talk about a backfire if that is the case
Blog text (20) -
And where they have seen this chase that they once engaged in backfire on them all right, in many different ways.
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It was just a backfire.
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And then what happened when it backfired on all these politicians, people said, let me get this straight.
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So look, could you use this to manipulate power people like, you know, Yes, you could, but it's going to backfire on you because people can read through that nonsense eventually.
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Bit of a backfire because now people will realize these so-called "non-partisan" overlords are actually anything but.
Blog text (3) -
The plan to cut costs resulted in a significant backfire when quality suffered and customers left.
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Her attempt to embarrass him during the meeting turned into a backfire, as he received unexpected praise instead.
Synonyms
148
3.6
A problem that delays progress or makes things worse
79
6.7
An indirect effect of an action that often appears later and is not expected
18
6.8
A strong negative reaction from people after an action or decision
3
6.5
An action or plan that comes back to hurt the person who started it
A strong negative public reaction that follows an action or policy
The continuing effects after a big event that often cause problems
How Harmful
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word backfire comes from back ('backwards') and fire ('burn'). Imagine a shot or action that 'fires back' at its maker, so a backfire is when a plan or action has the opposite, harmful result for the person who started it.