taper off
To diminish or lessen graduallyTo diminish or lessen gradually; to become or make smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
» He tapered off to one cigarette a day.
Er reduzierte sich auf eine Zigarette pro Tag. — tokyomews
Он снизил потребление до одной сигареты в день. — Hellerick
CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
2 senses(idiomatic)To diminish or lessen gradually; to become or make smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
Months after they printed the article, the number of angry letters finally started to taper off.
zurückgehen, nachlassen
сходи́ть на нетsxodítʹ na net, угасатьugasatʹ
become smaller or less active
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see taper, off.
The glass tapers off at the top.
Examples
4 sentencesHe tapered off to one cigarette a day.
ruОн снизил потребление до одной сигареты в день. — Hellerick
deEr reduzierte sich auf eine Zigarette pro Tag. — tokyomews
He needed to taper off venlafaxine.
deEr musste Venlafaxin allmählich absetzen. — Yorwba · CC BY 2.0 FR
By September the burst in spending seemed to be tapering off.
For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow but phone calls taper off.
ruВ течение трёх дней волосы и ногти продолжают расти, но телефонные звонки сходят на нет. — shanghainese
de3 Tage nach dem Tod wachsen Haar und Nägel weiter, aber Telefonanrufe werden seltener. — MUIRIEL
Translations
6 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
From taper and off.From taper and off.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
tapers off, tapering off, tapered off, tapered off| Base form | taper off · to taper off |
|---|---|
| 3rd person singular | tapers off |
| Present participle | tapering off |
| Past simple | tapered off |
| Past participle | tapered off |
irregular
Synonyms
3 synonyms- end weakly:peter outfizzle outfizzle
Lessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Phrasal verbs: introduction — Because it is a phrasal verb
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.