Amiss is a word that means "not quite right" or "inappropriate." It is pronounced /əˈmɪs/ and is spelled with the letter "a" followed by "miss." The "a" in the beginning of the word is pronounced like the schwa sound, which is a mid-central vowel. The "m" is pronounced like the consonant sound "M" and the "i" is pronounced like the short "i" sound. Finally, the "ss" sounds like the "s" sound with an added "s" at the end.
Amiss is an adverb that is commonly used to describe something that is not quite right, mistaken, or improper. When things go awry or are perceived as abnormal, they are said to be amiss. This term is often employed to indicate a deviation from what is expected, appropriate, or usual.
If something is going amiss, it means that it is not proceeding as planned or anticipated. It suggests that there is a flaw, mistake, or error in the situation. For instance, if a person's actions are deemed amiss, it implies that they are behaving inappropriately or incorrectly.
Amiss can also be used to describe one's feeling or intuition that something is wrong or unhealthy. It indicates a sense of suspicion or uneasiness. If someone says, "something feels amiss," they are essentially stating that they have a gut feeling that things are not as they should be.
Furthermore, amiss can be a vague term to express dissatisfaction, disappointment, or disapproval. It implies that an action, situation, or behavior is not up to the expected standard or is lacking in some way.
In summary, amiss is an adverb that denotes that something is not quite right, mistaken, or improper. Its usage spans from indicating deviations from what is normal or expected to expressing suspicion, unease, or disapproval.
• In a faulty manner.
• Wrong; faulty; out of order.
Etymological and pronouncing dictionary of the English language. By Stormonth, James, Phelp, P. H. Published 1874.
* The statistics data for these misspellings percentages are collected from over 15,411,110 spell check sessions on www.spellchecker.net from Jan 2010 - Jun 2012.
The word "amiss" can be traced back to Middle English and Old English. It is derived from the phrase "on miss", where "on" means "in" or "into", and "miss" means "fault" or "error". In this context, "on miss" essentially means "in fault" or "in error". Over time, this phrase underwent phonetic changes, eventually culminating in the word "amiss" as it is used today.