fizzle
Americanverb (used without object)
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fizzles,
present (3rd person singular)
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fizzled,
past participle, past
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fizzling
present participle
noun
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a fizzling, hissing, or sputtering.
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Informal. a failure; fiasco.
verb
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to make a hissing or bubbling sound
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informal (often foll by out) to fail or die out, esp after a promising start
noun
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a hissing or bubbling sound; fizz
-
informal an outright failure; fiasco
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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fizzlesimple
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fizzlessimple
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have fizzledperfect
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has fizzledperfect
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am fizzlingprogressive
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are fizzlingprogressive
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is fizzlingprogressive
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have been fizzlingperfect progressive
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has been fizzlingperfect progressive
Past
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fizzledsimple
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had fizzledperfect
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was fizzlingprogressive
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were fizzlingprogressive
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had been fizzlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fizzle
1525–35; earlier fysel to break wind, frequentative of *fise < Old Norse fīsa to break wind; akin to feist
Explanation
When something fizzles, it ends in a slow, sad way. Your bake sale may get off to a great start, only to fizzle once you've sold all the brownies and are left with nothing but oatmeal raisin cookies. The word fizzle has two uses — first, for talking about a failure or disappointment. Your party is a fizzle if no one shows up, and your cheerfulness is bound to fizzle after an experience like that. The second meaning is a hissing or sputtering sound, just like the word itself sounds — like the fizzle of a backyard firework or the fizzle of static on the radio as you switch stations.
Vocabulary lists containing fizzle
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Kris was determined the prank he'd invested so much time and energy into wouldn't just fizzle out.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
County will take on about a quarter-inch to an inch of rain as the storm continued to fizzle out over the Pacific Ocean, according to the National Weather Service.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 6, 2026
While several industry experts told MarketWatch that controversies over advertisements tend to fizzle out in the medium term, there’s always a chance that damage to its brand could linger.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
But those businesses are nascent and could just as easily fizzle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
After the Soviet Union’s first reported H-bomb test in August 1953—a relative fizzle known to US intelligence as “Joe-4”—“Ernest said, I think to DuBridge, ‘Well, it’s sure lucky that some people’s advice wasn’t taken.’
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
If the boomer boom fizzles, you still own one of the world’s largest diversified pharmaceutical companies.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 5, 2026
Researchers believe the shock "fizzles" after reaching the outer boundary of a bubble created by gas that the doomed star had previously expelled.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
And then, of course, there’s the risk the AI bubble fizzles and utilities are left with too much capacity.
From Barron's ● Jan. 9, 2026
If you consider Corvettes’ year-over-year price increases and steep depreciation curves, the bang-for-the-buck argument kind of fizzles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
More disturbingly, the serial fizzles prompted new questions about Livermore’s management, its work product, and its cost.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
But other new memory ETFs have fizzled so far.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
The company has also announced technology initiatives that fizzled, like an integration with OpenAI’s scrapped video app Sora, or have yet to bear fruit, like a virtual world in development with “Fortnite” maker Epic Games.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Struggling to breach the $80,000 level again, investors are questioning whether the bitcoin rally has fizzled out—for now.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
But those paper gains quickly fizzled, and the coin was trading at around $1.80 early Wednesday afternoon, a 95% decline.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
“Take another little piece of my heart now, baby ...” The band tried to improvise a big finish, but in the end, the song just fizzled out.
From "Small Steps" by Louis Sachar
On the stunning ballad Good Reason, she struggles with the idea of a relationship fizzling out, with no major disagreements, just the gut feeling it's not working.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Tech stocks rallied back after fizzling before the holiday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
His relationship with Peter Schlesinger - the young Californian subject of many of Hockney's paintings - was fizzling out.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
Hopes for a deal run high before fizzling, so markets have been reluctant to discount longer-lasting disruptions, Morgan Stanley analysts said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 9, 2026
The whole thing again fizzling around us both, around our closeness, like a just-lit sparkler, and I didn’t know what to say back.
From "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" by emily m. danforth
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
