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Synonyms

fizzle out

Idioms  

  1. Fail, end weakly, especially after a hopeful beginning. For example, The enthusiasm for reform has fizzled out in this state. The word fizzle dates from the early 1500s and meant “to break wind without making noise.” Later it was applied to hissing noises, such as those made by wet fireworks, and then to any endeavor that ends in disappointment. [Colloquial; mid-1800s]

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.

The final act avoids sports-movie clichés, which is another way of saying that things simply fizzle out unsatisfyingly.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 2, 2025

Very few go on to successful big league careers, most just pop back and forth between the minors and majors, move from team to team, while many just fizzle out.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 2, 2025

Leaders in the NBC newsroom, convinced that election year audiences deserved to hear a perspective from conservatives like Ms. McDaniel, believed the hubbub would fizzle out.

From New York Times • Mar. 26, 2024

They also identified the niobium junctions' supporting architecture as a big source of energy loss, causing the qubit's quantum state to fizzle out.

From Science Daily • Feb. 26, 2024

They fly smoky circles around my head and then fizzle out.

From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston

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.