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Glite Dictionary
to flame out

to flame out

6 7.5
To fail suddenly after a good start
  • phrasal verb
  • /fleɪm aʊt/
  • Informal
translation icon : desaparecer
  • The startup received initial funding and enthusiasm but ultimately flamed out due to mismanagement.
  • engines flame out
  • flame out quickly
  • flame out soon

And and that's how you flame out, right?

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Examples

  • After winning the first few races, the team's performance began to decline, and eventually, they just flamed out of the championship.

  • A lot of folks assumed Donald Trump would flame out by now.

    Bombshell (2019)

  • So who stands to gain if Jordan flames out in a big way?

    Fiction book (1997)

  • What about guys in sports who do great in their teens but then flame out?

    Blog text (7)

  • More often than not, their growth flames out and the stocks come down to Earth, costing investors money.

    Blog text (9)

  • A lot of quarterbacks come in with all this hype, but a lot of them flame out.

    HIM (2025)

  • A long-term career in music was not the point of this enterprise; many bands flamed out within six months of their existence.

    Blog text (27)

  • Also remember that roughly two-thirds of pitchers flame out for one reason or another, and fifty percent of position players.

    Blog text (12)

  • I met Tara after she transferred to UNH from Princeton, where, as she put it, she "flamed out" the first half of freshman year.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • David Ruffin joined The Temptations in 1964 after original lead singer Elbridge Bryant flamed out.

    Blog text (1)

Synonyms

to burn out
vsto flame out
24 4.7

Stop working, especially things like lights or fuses, because they get too hot from too much use

can mean sudden dramatic end or loss of interest not just hardware failure
to go up in smoke
vsto flame out
  • Informal
18 5.5

Plans or hopes suddenly fail and disappear for good

ends suddenly but can be temporary or involve lost interest
to crap out
vsto flame out
  • Offensive
13 9.6

To stop working or trying suddenly

ends suddenly in a dramatic way after a promising start
to run out of steam
vsto flame out
  • Informal
6 4.8

To lose energy or enthusiasm and stop working well

ends suddenly and dramatically rather than slowly losing energy
to go kablooie
vsto flame out
  • Slang
9.9

To suddenly break or stop working in a dramatic way

ends suddenly and dramatically without literal explosion

Antonyms

to continue
∞ 1.0

To keep doing something without stopping

to succeed
846 2.0

To reach a goal after trying hard

How Sudden

to implode
35 6.7
collapse
350 4.1
to flame out
  • Informal
6 7.5
to fizzle out
  • Informal
8 5.3
to peter out
9 5.6
to fade away
69 3.0

Surface Forms

flame out infinitive
flamed out past
flamed out past participle
flaming out present participle
flames out third person singular

Morphology

flame + out

The parts 'flame' (to burn/shine) + 'out' (extinguished) transparently suggest 'stop burning', so a learner can plausibly infer a metaphorical meaning of losing energy or stopping. However, the specific nuance of sudden dramatic failure after a promising start (and its use for people, projects, or engines) is an idiomatic extension that is not fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partly transparent.

Etymology

Flame out comes from the image of a bright flame that suddenly goes out when it runs out of fuel or is blown by the wind. So, the phrase means 'to fail suddenly' or 'to lose energy or interest' after a strong start.