Meanings
present singular third person tapers off · participle present tapering off · participle past tapered off · past tapered off
- idiomaticTo 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.
2 more examples
The traffic tapers off towards mid-May, but it continues in some measure throughout the off-peak months.
1960 September, G. Freeman Allen, “I.C.I. fertiliser goes by rail from Tees-side”, in Trains Illustrated, page 534To fill this gap, over the last 25 years, patients have developed a robust Internet-based subculture of volunteer peer support for tapering off psychiatric drugs and recovering from withdrawal syndrome.
2021 March 16, Adele Framer, “What I have learnt from helping thousands of people taper off antidepressants and other psychotropic medications”, in Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, volume 11, →DOI
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 減少 /减少
- 減少 /减少 (jiǎnshǎo)diminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
Esperanto stompi
- stompidiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
Finnish hiipua
- hiipuadiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
French estomper
- estomperdiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
German zurückgehen, nachlassen
- zurückgehendiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- nachlassendiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
Hungarian alábbhagy, ritkul
- alábbhagydiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- ritkuldiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- gyérüldiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- szelídüldiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- enyhüldiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- mérséklődikdiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- elcsendesüldiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- elüldiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- fogyatkozikdiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- apaddiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- csillapodikdiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
Italian calare
- calarediminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
Japanese 細る
- 細る (hosoru)diminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
Latin oblanguescō
- oblanguescōdiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
Polish słabnąć, osłabnąć
- słabnąćdiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- osłabnąćdiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- zamieraćdiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- zamrzećdiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
Russian сходи́ть на нет, угасать
- сходи́ть на нет (sxodítʹ na net)diminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
- угасать (ugasatʹ)diminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
Spanish aflojar
- aflojardiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
Swedish avta
- avtadiminish or lessen gradually; to become smaller, slower, quieter, etc.
Cite this entry
taper off. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/taper%20off
“taper off.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/taper%20off. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “taper off,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/taper%20off.
Source: taper off on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.