tail off

tail off
tail off
To become gradually less or fewer
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Main Entry: ↑tail

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ˌtail ˈoff [intransitive] [present tense I/you/we/they tail off he/she/it tails off present participle tailing off past tense tailed off past participle tailed off] phrasal verb
tail off variant tail away variant to become quieter, weaker, or smaller

Her voice tailed off.

Thesaurus: to become less in size, amount or valuesynonym to become, or to make something weakersynonym
Main entry: tail

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tail off (or away)
gradually diminish in amount, strength, or intensity

the economic boom was beginning to tail off

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tail off [phrasal verb]
: to become smaller or quieter in a gradual way

Our productivity tailed off last year.

She started to ask a question and then her voice tailed off. [=trailed off]

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Main Entry: ↑tail

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ˌtail aˈway/ˈoff derived
(especially BrE) to become smaller or weaker

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The number of tourists tails off in October.

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‘But why…?’ Her voice tailed away.

Main entry: ↑tailderived

Useful english dictionary. 2012.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • tail-off — UK US noun [countable] [singular tail off plural tail offs] the process of slowly becoming smaller in amount a tail off in profits Thesaurus: rates of decrease and the process of decreasing …   Useful english dictionary

  • tail-off — tail ,off noun count the process of slowly becoming smaller in amount: a tail off in profits …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • tail off — phrasal verb [intransitive] Word forms tail off : present tense I/you/we/they tail off he/she/it tails off present participle tailing off past tense tailed off past participle tailed off tail off or tail away to become quieter, weaker, or smaller …   English dictionary

  • tail-off — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms tail off : singular tail off plural tail offs the process of slowly becoming smaller in amount a tail off in profits …   English dictionary

  • tail off — PHRASAL VERB When something tails off, it gradually becomes less in amount or value, often before coming to an end completely. → See also tail away [V P] Last year, economic growth tailed off to below four percent... [V P] The drug s effect does… …   English dictionary

  • tail off — phr verb Tail off is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑voice, ↑word …   Collocations dictionary

  • tail off — to gradually lessen. Sales of new cars always tail off when people are worried about losing their jobs …   New idioms dictionary

  • tail off — tail away her voice tailed off Syn: fade, wane, ebb, dwindle, decrease, lessen, diminish, decline, subside, abate, drop off, peter out, taper off; let up, ease off, die away, die down, come t …   Thesaurus of popular words

  • tail off — verb to gradually subside or diminish; to tail away …   Wiktionary

  • tail off — v. tail away, diminish gradually, wane, subside gradually, fade …   English contemporary dictionary

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