phase out

present singular third person phases out · participle present phasing out · participle past phased out · past phased out

1. transitiveTo remove or relinquish the use of (something) little by little, either via discrete diminishing phases or (by extension) by continuous gradations; to remove in phases, or as if by phases (gradually).

   Leaded petrol was phased out in the course of the 1990s.

   2 more examples

   It [Greenpeace] also says that tax exemptions should be phased out for airlines, including the opt-outs that low-cost carriers currently have from paying VAT or fuel duty on kerosene.

   2023 August 9, “Network News: Network Rail under fire for spending thousands of pounds on flights”, in RAIL, number 989, page 15

   “The lack of an agreement to phase out fossil fuels was devastating,” said Prof Michael Mann, a climatologist and geophysicist at the University of Pennsylvania in the US.

   2023 December 14, Damian Carrington, quoting Michael E. Mann, “Failure of Cop28 on fossil fuel phase-out is ‘devastating’, say scientists”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: sunset · Antonyms: phase in