That's what I was going for... "nearly miss" is the same as "barely hit".

But that's different than a "near miss". In one you're saying "I almost missed, but I did, in fact, hit" where in the other you're saying "I missed, but came very near to the target".

Quote Originally Posted by HNSB View Post
Aren't "almost missed" and "barely hit" the same thing?

These mean the exact thing to me:
I was shooting my .45 the other day and almost missed the target.
I was shooting my .45 the other day and barely hit the target.