swing and a miss
3
7.0
- idiom
- /swɪŋ ənd ə mɪs/
- Informal
:
fallo
- After several attempts to fix the car, it became clear that his effort was a swing and a miss.
- Oh, a swing and a miss
This is a swing and a miss and in my opinion, it is political suicide.
- This is a swing and a miss and in my opinion, it is political suicide.
Examples
-
This is a swing and a miss for the conference.
Blog text (3) -
Call that a swing and a miss.
Blog text (33) -
Martell had a swing and a miss.
Blog text (26) -
His last presentation was a swing and a miss as it failed to impress the audience.
-
The team's strategy was just another swing and a miss during the match.
Synonyms
557
1.3
Not reaching what was planned or expected
73
3.1
A failure to hit or reach a target
4
6.3
An attempt that does not work as planned
1
4.4
An attempt that does not get what you want
Failure to reach a planned goal
Antonyms
How Successful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase transparently combines 'swing' (an attempt or action) and 'miss' (a failure to hit), so a learner who knows both words can readily infer 'an attempt that fails'. Although the expression comes from baseball and is a fixed colloquial phrasing, its meaning is compositionally predictable from the constituents.
Etymology
The phrase swing and a miss comes from baseball: a batter makes a swing but does not hit the ball, which is a miss. So it means 'an unsuccessful effort'.