How to Use peter out in a Sentence

peter out

phrasal verb
  • But the scent peters out atop a tower of rock in the creek bed.
    Bill Heavey, Field & Stream, 1 Feb. 2024
  • And when the wind doesn’t blow, production from wind farms peters out.
    Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Jan. 2024
  • That gives me so much joy, because nobody wants their songs to just peter out.
    Stephen Daw, Billboard, 3 Sep. 2019
  • The great highway that begins in South Carolina and peters out 1,539 miles later in West Texas is about to become even greater.
    Dave Lieber, Dallas News, 28 Apr. 2023
  • Deploying the brain’s natural dampers should—and apparently does—cause these waves to peter out.
    IEEE Spectrum, 29 May 2015
  • Some investors say the economy’s strength could start to peter out as the Fed continues to raise interest rates and consumers spend savings accrued during the height of the pandemic.
    Krystal Hur, CNN, 13 July 2023
  • Even so, some forecasters predict that consumer spending could peter out later next year.
    Elizabeth Napolitano, CBS News, 26 Dec. 2023
  • Yet growth will slow by roughly 50% next year to 1.1 million barrels a day as that rebound peters out, and consumers turn to more efficient or electric vehicles.
    Grant Smith, Fortune Europe, 14 Dec. 2023
  • Real life is mostly made up of loose ends, murky motivations, shades of gray and stories that move in fits and starts and peter out without a satisfying resolution.
    Charles Seife, Scientific American, 2 Aug. 2023
  • The impact of additional savings on permanent growth rates peters out in a way that, under Professor Solow’s assumption, the impacts of population and technical knowledge do not.
    Michael M. Weinstein, New York Times, 22 Dec. 2023
  • As federal relief funds peter out, governments face difficult questions about how to maintain competitive pay.
    Lydia Depillis, New York Times, 27 July 2023
  • Instead of letting that relationship peter out, re-create regular interaction with a former colleague to help ensure the relationship lasts.
    Aliza Knox, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'peter out.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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