backfire
Other forms: backfired; backfires; backfiring
Use the word backfire when you talk about the sound a car makes when a small explosion in its exhaust system pops — sometimes as loudly as a gunshot.
Hearing a car's backfire can make you jump, because it makes a sharp, shot-like sound. A backfire is usually caused by unburned fuel, and it can be accompanied by a burst of flame and a brief loss of power in the vehicle, as well as a fairly loud noise. The word comes from an American English term that originally referred to a fire deliberately set to slow the progress of a prairie or forest fire.
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a loud noise made by the explosion of fuel in the manifold or exhaust of an internal combustion engine
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the backward escape of gases and unburned gunpowder after a gun is firedsynonyms: blowback
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emit a loud noise as a result of undergoing a backfire
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come back to the originator of an action with an undesired effect
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a miscalculation that recoils on its makersynonyms: boomerang
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a fire that is set intentionally in order to slow an approaching forest fire or grassfire by clearing a burned area in its pathtype of:firethe event of something burning (often destructive)
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set a controlled fire to halt an advancing forest or prairie fire
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Vocabulary lists containing backfire
In the first book of Jeff Kinney's popular series, Greg Heffley deals with the trials and tribulations of middle school.
In this sequel to The Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta are forced to participate in the Quarter Quell, while unrest in the districts of Panem threatens the Capitol. Learn these words from Suzanne Collins' popular trilogy.