miss the point

English

Alternative forms

• miss someone's point

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

miss the point (third-person singular simple present misses the point, present participle missing the point, simple past and past participle missed the point)

1. To fail to grasp the meaning of an utterance or situation.

   You're supposed to dip the bread in the soup. Eating them separately is missing the point of the meal.

   Do you know what I mean, or are you missing the point?

   • 2024, “Child of Mine”, in Patterns in Repeat, performed by Laura Marling:

     Everything about you is intuitive
     So those who miss the point might rush right through it

Translations

fail to grasp the meaning

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 沒有抓住要點 / 没有抓住要点 (méiyǒu zhuāzhù yàodiǎn)

• Finnish: ei käsittää, ei ymmärtää asian ydintä, ei tajuta pointtia (colloquial)
• French: ne pas comprendre, être à côté de la plaque
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: nie rozumieć impf, nie zrozumieć pf
• Spanish: malinterpretar (es)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

References

• “miss the point” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “miss the point” (US) / “miss the point” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “miss the point”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.