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taper

/ˈteɪpər//ˈteɪpə/·verb, noun
to narrow gradually toward one end; to reduce something gradually; (noun) a slender candle
Fig. 1 — The pencil goes into the crank sharpener square-ended, blunt as a fence post.
01Definition

To taper is to narrow by even degrees toward an end — a sharpened pencil tapers to its point, trouser legs taper at the ankle, a church spire tapers into the sky. The oldest sense is the noun: a taper was a slim candle, thick at the base and nothing at the flame, and the shape became the verb. Time borrowed it next: whatever is reduced gradually rather than stopped dead tapers or tapers off — doses, training loads, storms, central-bank stimulus.

02In use
  • iThe blade tapers from a broad spine to a fine cutting edge.
  • iiDoctors taper the dose over several weeks rather than stopping it abruptly.
  • iiiApplause tapered off as the lights dimmed for the second act.
03Collocations
  • taper off
  • taper to a point
  • taper the dose
  • a tapered leg
  • tapering of stimulus

Family tapered (adjective) · tapering (noun) · taper (noun)

04Relations

=narrow, thin, dwindle, diminish, wind down

≠widen, flare, expand

06TOEFL & IELTS

Three exam faces. Shape: describing objects and diagrams — a wing that tapers, a tapered column (Task 1 process/description gold). Gradual reduction: taper off is the polished way to say 'decrease gradually and cease' — rain, attendance, funding taper off. Domain senses: medicine tapers doses to avoid withdrawal, and economics uses tapering for the gradual winding-down of central-bank stimulus. Spelling trap: taper, not tapper — one p, long a.

07Asked
What does 'taper off' mean?
To decrease gradually until it fades to little or nothing: the rain tapered off by evening, donations tapered off after the appeal, the conversation tapered off into silence. The particle off adds the endpoint — not just less, but heading toward done. It is the gentle exit among decrease verbs: nothing is cut; the flow simply thins, like the cone on the pencil in the scene above.
What does tapering mean in medicine?
Reducing a drug dose step by step instead of stopping at once, so the body can adjust — standard practice with steroids, antidepressants and opioids, where an abrupt stop triggers withdrawal or rebound. Doctors speak of 'a tapering schedule' or 'tapering off prednisone'. The word is doing its exact geometric job: the dose narrows by planned degrees down to zero.
What is tapering in economics?
The gradual winding-down of a central bank's asset purchases — reducing stimulus in steps rather than ending it overnight. The word entered headlines in 2013, when the mere hint that the US Federal Reserve would taper its bond-buying set off the 'taper tantrum' in global markets. Same cone, different material: support paid out by even degrees toward zero.
Is it taper or tapper?
Taper, one p, first syllable rhyming with 'paper'. Doubling the p makes a different word: a tapper is someone or something that taps — a tap dancer, a maple-tree tapper. The single/double consonant flips the vowel: taper /ˈteɪpər/, tapper /ˈtæpər/. If you can substitute 'narrow gradually', you want the paper-vowel and one p.
What is the difference between taper and dwindle?
Both are gradual, but taper is about form and control, dwindle about quantity slipping away. A spire tapers (designed), a dose is tapered (planned); savings dwindle (nobody planned that). Taper can be transitive — you taper a dose — while things only dwindle on their own. If the decline is deliberate or describes a shape, taper; if it is a supply quietly draining, dwindle.
What is a taper as a noun?
Originally a slender candle — thick at the base, narrowing to the wick — and taper candles still sit in candlesticks at formal dinners. The shape named the verb, not the other way round. Two other noun uses survive: the taper of an object (the degree to which it narrows — 'the taper of the barrel') and, in barbershops, a taper cut, hair shortening gradually down the neck.
What does tapered mean in clothing?
Cut to narrow progressively: tapered trousers are roomy at the thigh and slim at the ankle; a tapered shirt follows the waist in; tapered jeans sit between straight and skinny. The participle is the fashion industry's favourite form of the word because it describes a line, not a size — the garment narrows along its length, exactly like the pencil's cone.