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Webster 1913 Edition


Amiss

A-miss′

,
adv.
[Pref.
a-
+
miss
.]
Astray; faultily; improperly; wrongly; ill.
What error drives our eyes and ears
amiss
?
Shakespeare
Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask
amiss
.
James iv. 3.
To take (an act, thing) amiss
,
to impute a wrong motive to (an act or thing); to take offense at; to take unkindly;
as, you must not
take
these questions
amiss
.

A-miss′

(ȧ-mĭs′)
,
Adj.
Wrong; faulty; out of order; improper;
as, it may not be
amiss
to ask advice
.
[Used only in the predicate.]
Dryden.
His wisdom and virtue can not always rectify that which is
amiss
in himself or his circumstances.
Wollaston.

A-miss′

,
Noun.
A fault, wrong, or mistake.
[Obs.]
Each toy seems prologue to some great
amiss
.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition


Amiss

AMISS'

,
Adj.
[a and miss. See Miss.]
1.
Wrong; faulty; out of order; improper; as, it may not be amiss to ask advice. [This adjective always follows its noun.]
2.
adv. In a faulty manner; contrary to propriety, truth, law or morality.
Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss. James 4.
Applied to the body, it signifies indisposed; as, I am somewhat amiss to day.

Definition 2024


amiss

amiss

English

Adjective

amiss (comparative more amiss, superlative most amiss)

  1. Wrong; faulty; out of order; improper; as, it may not be amiss to ask advice.
    He suspected something was amiss.
    Something amiss in the arrangements had distracted the staff.
    • Wollaston
      His wisdom and virtue cannot always rectify that which is amiss in himself or his circumstances.

Translations

Adverb

amiss (comparative more amiss, superlative most amiss)

  1. (archaic) Mistakenly
  2. (archaic) Astray
  3. (archaic) Wrongly.

Noun

amiss (plural amisses)

  1. (obsolete) Fault; wrong; an evil act, a bad deed.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.i:
      Now by my head (said Guyon) much I muse, / How that same knight should do so foule amis [...].
    • 1635, John Donne, "His parting from her":
      Yet Love, thou'rt blinder then thy self in this, / To vex my Dove-like friend for my amiss [...].

External links

  • amiss in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • amiss in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams