hit and miss
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Random.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Funny thing, heredity; hit and miss.
Even now, it can be hit and miss.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “Irreversible binomial” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29). Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “hit and miss” mean?
Random.
Is “hit and miss” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.