back ‧ fire /ˌbækˈfaɪə $ ˈbækfaɪr/ BrE AmE verb [intransitive]
1 . if a plan or action backfires, it has the opposite effect to the one you intended:
The company’s new policy backfired when a number of employees threatened to quit.
2 . if a car backfires, it makes a sudden loud noise because the engine is not working correctly
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THESAURUS
▪ fail to not succeed – used about people, plans, methods etc:
The plan failed.
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They failed to persuade her to change her mind.
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This method never fails.
▪ go wrong if something you do goes wrong, it fails after starting well:
The experiment went wrong when the chemicals combined to form a poisonous gas.
▪ not work if something does not work, it does not do what you want it to do:
The drugs don’t work.
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I tried to fix it with glue, but that didn’t work.
▪ be unsuccessful /ˌʌnsəkˈsesf ə l◂/ to not have the result you wanted:
His first attempt to get a teaching job was unsuccessful.
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The search was unsuccessful.
▪ be a failure to be unsuccessful, with the result that you have wasted your efforts:
The government’s 5-year plan to modernize the economy was a complete failure.
▪ backfire if a plan or action backfires, it does the opposite of what it was intended to do:
His plan to get attention backfired, and instead of being promoted he lost his job.
▪ in vain if you try to do something in vain, you fail to do it:
They tried in vain to save him.
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All her efforts had been in vain.