taper off

taper off
verb
1. end weakly (Freq. 1)
-

The music just petered out—there was no proper ending

• Syn: ↑peter out, ↑fizzle out, ↑fizzle
• Hypernyms: ↑discontinue
• Verb Frames:
-

Something ——s

2. become smaller or less active
-

Business tapered off

• Hypernyms: ↑narrow, ↑contract
• Verb Frames:
-

Something ——s

* * *

intransitive verb
1. : to become taper : taper
2. : to stop gradually : cease little by little

the organization tapered off in about a year — G.B.Oxnam

: to make or cause to taper : decrease gradually

if not retire, at least taper off the amount of time given to work — Lynn White

use in tapering off morphine and opium addicts — D.W.Maurer & V.H.Vogel

* * *

taper off [phrasal verb]
: to become gradually less and less : to decrease slowly

Production has been tapering off.

• • •
Main Entry: ↑taper

* * *

ˌtaper ˈoff derived
to become gradually less in number, amount, degree, etc

•

The number of applicants for teaching posts has tapered off.

Main entry: ↑taperderived

Useful english dictionary. 2012.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • taper off — taper / taper off [v] decrease to a point abate, bate, close, come to a point, die away, die out, diminish, drain, dwindle, fade, lessen, narrow, recede, reduce, rescind, subside, thin, thin out, wane, weaken, wind down; concepts 137,698,776 Ant …   New thesaurus

  • taper off — index subside Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • taper off — to gradually lessen. The price of gasoline should taper off in the fall. The rain will taper off by morning and the afternoon should be sunny …   New idioms dictionary

  • taper off — verb To diminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc. Months after they printed the article, the number of angry letters finally started to taper off …   Wiktionary

  • taper off — come to an end little by little, become smaller toward the end The rain began to taper off early in the afternoon …   Idioms and examples

  • taper off — verb Date: 1848 taper < housing starts tapered off in the fall > …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • taper off — (Roget s IV) v. Syn. recede, rescind, diminish; see decrease 2 , taper …   English dictionary for students

  • taper off — see taper 2) …   English dictionary

  • taper off — gradually lessen. → taper …   English new terms dictionary

  • taper off — {v.} 1. To come to an end little by little; become smaller toward the end. * /The river tapers off here and becomes a brook./ 2. To stop a habit gradually; do something less and less often. * /Robert gave up smoking all at once instead of… …   Dictionary of American idioms

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