fizzle
[fiz-uhl]
- to make a hissing or sputtering sound, especially one that dies out weakly.
- Informal. to fail ignominiously after a good start (often followed by out): The reform movement fizzled out because of poor leadership.
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- a fizzling, hissing, or sputtering.
- Informal. a failure; fiasco.
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Origin of fizzle
1525–35; earlier fysel to break wind, frequentative of *fise < Old Norse fīsa to break wind; akin to feist
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comDictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fizzle
Contemporary Examples
Could Occupy Wall Street yet prove a harbinger rather than a fizzle?
He predicted that without more mobilization and pressure from outside, reform could “fizzle.”
But the thing about phenoms is they can come in hot and then fizzle into a lower voltage of play.
If U.S.-Pakistan cooperation were in fact to fizzle, clearly such operations would be compromised.
Protests have come and gone, and plans for large-scale demonstrations often fizzle.
Historical Examples
It was a lot easier just to let her explode and then fizzle out.
The Odyssey of Sam MeechamCharles E. Fritch
And I must say, as a raid in force, it was more or less of a fizzle.
Torchy and VeeSewell Ford
The Raid was a fizzle and the commander and all his men were captured by the Boers.
An African AdventureIsaac F. Marcosson
It is a fizzle, a twentieth-century abomination—an invention with no room for an ad.
Perkins of PortlandEllis Parker Butler
You must be so well equipped that you will not make life a “fizzle.”
'Boy Wanted'Nixon Waterman
fizzle
- to make a hissing or bubbling sound
- (often foll by out) informal to fail or die out, esp after a promising start
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- a hissing or bubbling sound; fizz
- informal an outright failure; fiasco
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Word Origin
C16: probably from obsolete fist to break wind
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for fizzle
v.
1530s, "to break wind without noise," probably altered from obsolete fist, from Middle English fisten "break wind" (see feisty) + frequentative suffix -le. Related: Fizzled; fizzling.
Noun sense of "failure, fiasco" is from 1846, originally U.S. college slang for "failure in an exam." Barnhart says it is "not considered as derived from the verb." The verb in this sense is from 1847.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper