FIZZLE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Fizzle

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/fˈɪzəl/ Listen

verb

fizzle v. i. (past & past part. fizzled; pres. part. fizzling)

To make a hissing sound. "It is the easiest thing, sir, to be done, As plain as fizzling."

To make a ridiculous failure in an undertaking, especially after a good start; to achieve nothing. (Colloq. or Low) "A four-day rally in stocks fizzled yesterday amid renewed fears that strong economic growth may prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates."

To fizzle out, to burn with a hissing noise and then go out, like wet gunpowder; hence: to fail completely and ridiculously; to prove a failure. (Colloq.)

noun

fizzle n. A failure or abortive effort; a fiasco. (Colloq.)

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Etymology of 'Fizzle'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Fizzle" Quotes from Famous Books

... prehistoric times man has attempted to govern and shape the destinies of all things living on this earth. He has made of his reign a miserable fizzle. It is our turn now to try ...

— The Gay Rebellion • Robert W. Chambers

... and potatoes and ham omelette!' I had half a notion to ask Billy to come along with us on this trip, but somehow I hated to think of the fun he'd poke at me in case my wonderful invention turned out to be a fizzle, like so many of them have in the past. I knew you wouldn't give me away, Hugh, if that happened,—-and if I lived to tell the tale! Well, I hope I can get my pack on my back again for the last hundred ...

— The Boy Scouts of the Flying Squadron • Robert Shaler

... in the spirit I wished to arouse. I hope we can get rid of the man before it is too late. He has set the natives to war; but the natives, by God's blessing, do not want to fight, and I think it will fizzle out - no thanks to the man who tried to start it. But I did not mean to drift into these politics; rather to tell you what I have done since ...

— Vailima Letters • Robert Louis Stevenson

... was followed by several more spirited references to it, from the same point of view. After which Chesterton cooled off and wrote about detective stories, telephones, and worked himself down into an all-round fizzle of disgust at things as they are, to illustrate which "I will not run into a paroxysm of citations again," as Milton said in the course of his Epistle in two books ...

— G. K. Chesterton, A Critical Study • Julius West

... him now because he is angry and will get over it. But Johnny, please do be a good boy now and don't make us any more trouble. I am sure I never dreamed what you had in mind, but I would have married you since we started to, but now it is perfectly odious to have it turn out such a fizzle, with you in jail and I being preached at every waking moment by dad and mommie. If you had only kept your temper and waited until dad and mommie got here, I am sure we would be married by now, because I could have made them give their consent and be present at the ...

— The Thunder Bird • B. M. Bower

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