1530s, "to break wind without noise," probably altered from obsolete fist, from M.E. fisten "break wind" (see feisty). Related: Fizzled; fizzling. Noun sense of "failure, fiasco" is from 1846, originally U.S. college slang for "failure in an exam."
n. a failure; something that sputters away. : The whole project was a fizzle.
in. to fail; to peter out. : The whole plan fizzled, and we had to start over.
F a wild card word for words beginning with , such as fuck, fool. (Streets. Also for other words with initial F.) : That dude is such a fizzle!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Example sentences
If they stall, the coalition could yet fizzle out in failure.
The early euphoria could rapidly fizzle into surly disappointment.
The big question is whether this interest in controlling risk will fizzle out as economies recover.
With the local elections over, the protests will probably fizzle for a while.
See experiments that fizzle, pop, explode and teach you about the world around us.
But despite plenty of smoke and fire, the big liftoff never arrives, and the climactic dance-contest sequence is a botched fizzle.
The result of the storm was more of a fizzle than a disaster and weather agencies took criticism for a false alarm.
Impurities in the metal, which could not be removed, would cause a fizzle.
At all events, the picture takes on a dull tone as it goes and finally ends in a fizzle which is forecast almost from the start.
Didn't take long for the feel-good story about the golden-throated homeless guy getting broadcast work to fizzle.