Definition

Verb (intransitive) To end or fail in a weak, disappointing, or anticlimactic way; to gradually lose strength, energy, or effectiveness until stopping completely.

Usage

This verb describes a process of ending not with a significant event, but with a decline into insignificance. It is often used for events, efforts, emotions, or sounds that fade away disappointingly. * It is typically used in the active voice: "The plan fizzled out." * It often follows the pattern: [Subject] + fizzled out.

Examples

• The peace talks fizzled out after weeks of no progress.
• Her initial enthusiasm for the project fizzled out within a month.
• The protest started loudly but fizzled out by the afternoon.
• The engine sputtered and fizzled out, leaving the car silent.

Advanced Usage

• To fizzle out into [something]: To end weakly by becoming something less significant.
  • Their argument fizzled out into an awkward silence.
• Used figuratively for non-physical things like trends, relationships, or careers.
  • After a few hit singles, the band's popularity fizzled out.

Variants and Related Words

• Fizzle (verb/noun): Can mean to fail or end weakly (similar to "fizzle out") or to make a hissing sound. As a noun, it means a failure or a hissing sound.
  • The new product launch was a complete fizzle.

Synonyms

• Peter out: To diminish gradually and stop. (Very close synonym, as seen in the reference context.)
• Taper off: To decrease gradually.
• Die out: To become extinct or disappear.
• Fade away: To disappear slowly.

Phrasal Verbs

• Fizzle out is itself a phrasal verb. The particle "out" is essential to convey the meaning of ending or exhausting.

Related Idioms

• Go out with a whimper, not a bang: To end feebly and unremarkably instead of impressively. This idiom shares the core concept of a disappointing, weak ending with "fizzle out."
  • The series finale didn't have a dramatic climax; it just went out with a whimper.

Verb

1. end weakly
   • The music just petered out--there was no proper ending