Usually means: Plan fails, results opposite intended.
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We found 31 dictionaries that define the word backfire:

General (23 matching dictionaries)
  1. backfire: Merriam-Webster
  2. backfire: Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
  3. backfire: American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
  4. backfire: Collins English Dictionary
  5. backfire: Vocabulary.com
  6. Backfire, backfire: Wordnik
  7. backfire: Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
  8. backfire: Wiktionary
  9. backfire: Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed.
  10. backfire: The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus
  11. backfire: Infoplease Dictionary
  12. backfire: Dictionary.com
  13. backfire: Cambridge Essential American English Dictionary
  14. Backfire, Backfire: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
  15. backfire: Rhymezone
  16. backfire: AllWords.com Multi-Lingual Dictionary
  17. backfire: FreeDictionary.org
  18. backfire: Mnemonic Dictionary
  19. backfire: TheFreeDictionary.com
  20. backfire: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
  21. backfire: Merriam-Webster

Business (1 matching dictionary)
  1. backfire: Legal dictionary

Computing (1 matching dictionary)
  1. backfire: Encyclopedia

Miscellaneous (1 matching dictionary)
  1. backfire: Idioms

Science (1 matching dictionary)
  1. Botanical Terms (No longer online)

Slang (2 matching dictionaries)
  1. backfire: Green’s Dictionary of Slang
  2. backfire: Urban Dictionary

Tech (2 matching dictionaries)
  1. AUTOMOTIVE TERMS (No longer online)
  2. National Weather Service Glossary (No longer online)

(Note: See backfired as well.)

Definitions from Wiktionary (
)
American English Definition British English Definition
verb:  (of a gun, cannon, Bunsen burner, etc., intransitive) To fire in the opposite direction, for example due to an obstruction in the barrel.
verb:  (of a reciprocating engine, intransitive) To experience a premature ignition of fuel or an ignition of exhaust gases, making a popping sound.
verb:  (idiomatic, transitive) To fail in a manner that brings down further misfortune.
verb:  (firefighting) To set a back fire (small, controlled fire to limit spread of a larger fire).
noun:  A premature explosion in the cylinder of a gas or oil engine during the exhaust or the compression stroke, tending to drive the piston in the wrong direction.
noun:  An explosion in the exhaust passages of an internal combustion engine.
noun:  An explosion in other equipment.
noun:  (firefighting) Alternative spelling of back fire [A small, controlled fire set in the path of a larger uncontrolled fire, in order to limit the spread of the large fire by removing its fuel.]

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