How to Use peter out in a Sentence

peter out

verb
  • People, having grown too used to these warnings and then seeing storms peter out, refuse to move.
    — Kansas City Star, 22 May 2026
  • So many of them hook you in and are interesting, and then start treading water and peter out.
    — Ronda Racha Penrice, HollywoodReporter, 12 Nov. 2025
  • Forecasters expect this storm, which poses no threat to land, to start to peter out over the weekend on its path straight east.
    — Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 6 Aug. 2025
  • Or the current eruption could instead stop at the summit if its magma supply peters out.
    — CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2025
  • Once, its delta was a lush network of lagoons; now the river peters out in the desert because states take so much water out of it upstream.
    — Patricia J. Rettig, The Conversation, 4 May 2022
  • Then, eventually that’ll peter out.
    — Tim Grierson, Rolling Stone, 16 Feb. 2026
  • After all, over the decades many upstart parties have challenged LDP rule only to peter out soon after.
    — Mireya Solís, Foreign Affairs, 1 Sep. 2025
  • But by Saturday, the hurricane is expected to peter out in cooler waters.
    — Alex Harris, Miami Herald, 22 Sep. 2025
  • What’s far less clear is how much the VIX actually needs to rise before volatility begins to peter out.
    — Frank Cappelleri, CNBC, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Usually El Ninos form in the summer, peak in the late fall or early winter, and peter out the next spring, scientists said.
    — Seth Borenstein, Chicago Tribune, 11 June 2026
  • Without such efforts, the extraordinary solar power revolution could soon peter out.
    — Varun Sivaram, IEEE Spectrum, 21 May 2019
  • The rewards from those Cold War breakthroughs — semiconductors, lithium-ion batteries, and software automation — are starting to peter out.
    — Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 20 Mar. 2026
  • As Southern California reaches the end of its rainy season, which typically peters out in April, this water year thus far has been relatively average.
    — Alex Wigglesworth, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2026
  • Western officials and analysts say Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that time is on his side, that Western support for Ukraine will peter out and that Ukraine’s resistance will eventually collapse under pressure.
    — ABC News, 16 Feb. 2026

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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