fizzle (redirected from fizzled)

fiz·zle  (fzl)

intr.v. fiz·zled, fiz·zling, fiz·zles

1. To make a hissing or sputtering sound.

2. Informal To fail or end weakly, especially after a hopeful beginning.

n. Informal

A failure; a fiasco.

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[Probably from obsolete fise, a breaking wind, from Middle English, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse fsa, to break wind.]

Word History: Philemon Holland, in his 1601 translation of Pliny's Natural History, wrote that if asses eat a certain plant, "they will fall a fizling and farting." Holland's asses provide a vivid example of the original meaning of the word fizzle, which was, in the decorous phrasing of the Oxford English Dictionary, "to break wind without noise." During the 19th century fizzle took on a related but more respectable sense, "to hiss, as does a piece of fireworks," illustrated by a quotation from the November 7, 1881, issue of the London Daily News: "unambitious rockets which fizzle doggedly downwards." In the same century fizzle also took on figurative senses, one of which seems to have been popular at Yale. The Yale Literary Magazine for 1849 helpfully defines the word as follows: "Fizzle, to rise with modest reluctance, to hesitate often, to decline finally; generally, to misunderstand the question." The figurative sense of fizzle that has caught on is the one most familiar today, "to fail or die out."

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fizzle

Verb

[-zling, -zled]

1. to make a hissing or bubbling sound

2. fizzle out Informal to fail or die out, esp. after a promising start [probably from obsolete fist to break wind]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	fizzle - a fricative sound (especially as an expression of disapproval); "the performers could not be heard over the hissing of the audience" hiss, hissing, hushing, sibilation noise - sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound); "he enjoyed the street noises"; "they heard indistinct noises of people talking"; "during the firework display that ended the gala the noise reached 98 decibels"
	2.	fizzle - a complete failure; "the play was a dismal flop" bust, flop failure - an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose; "the surprise party was a complete failure" bomb, dud, turkey - an event that fails badly or is totally ineffectual; "the first experiment was a real turkey"; "the meeting was a dud as far as new business was concerned"
Verb	1.	fizzle - end weakly; "The music just petered out--there was no proper ending" fizzle out, peter out, taper off discontinue - come to or be at an end; "the support from our sponsoring agency will discontinue after March 31"

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fizzle

verb (Informal) (often with out) die away, fail, collapse, fold (informal) abort, fall through, peter out, come to nothing, miss the mark, end in disappointment

Translations

fizzle [ˈfɪzl] vi → pétiller

fizzle out vi → rater

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fizzle [ˈfɪzl] vi → frizzare;

(also: fizzle out) [enthusiasm, interest] → smorzarsi, svanire: [plan] → fallire