peter out

Idioms  

1. Dwindle or diminish and come to an end, as in Their enthusiasm soon petered out. The origin of this usage is unknown, but one authority suggests it may refer to the apostle Peter, whose enthusiastic support of Jesus quickly diminished so that he denied knowing him three times during the night after Jesus's arrest. [Mid-1800s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

peter out

However, the rally appeared to peter out Thursday following a tech retreat on Wall Street and disappointing earnings from US giants SanDisk and Western Digital that revived concerns over the profitability of the AI investments.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

There’s little reason to expect it to peter out, especially with layoffs and unemployment very low.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026

While most experts are predicting this hantavirus outbreak will peter out, it’s not the kind of prediction you want to be wrong about either.

From Salon ● May 11, 2026

Fears that construction could peter out haven’t deterred towns from tethering their fortunes more tightly to the corporate spending sprees and stratospheric Wall Street valuations that are fueling talk of a bubble.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025

They are better trained than the Dauntless, whose voices take thirty seconds to peter out.

From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth

Related Words

• abate
• die out
• ebb
• evaporate
• fade
• recede
• tail away
• tail off
• wane