Meaning & use
peak out
Last updated
Meanings
verbintransitivebusiness
to reach a highest point and then stop rising, especially of prices, sales, or growth.
Grammar: No object: growth peaked out in 2020. Do not say 'peak out something'.
Patterns
- something peaks out
- peak out at a level
- peak out after a period
Analysts say the housing market may peak out later this year.
Enrollment peaked out at around 5,000 students and then began to fall.
The company's profits peaked out after the holiday season.
verbintransitivefigurative
to reach the highest level of performance or ability and then be unable to improve further.
Grammar: Often used about athletes or teams: a player peaks out at a certain age. No object.
Patterns
- someone peaks out
- peak out early
- peak out at a young age
Many sprinters peak out in their late twenties.
Some people worry that they have peaked out in their careers.
The team peaked out in the semifinals and lost the next match.
Word forms
| third person singular | peaks out |
|---|---|
| past tense | peaked out |
| past participle | peaked out |
| -ing form | peaking out |
Common combinations
- peak out at a level
- The temperature peaked out at 40 degrees.
- peak out early
- The song peaked out early on the charts.
- peak out in value
- The currency peaked out in value last month.
- peak out after something
- Demand peaked out after the new phone launch.
Synonyms and how they differ
- plateau
- Means to stop rising and stay at a high level, not necessarily to fall afterward.
- max out
- More informal and often transitive: you max out a credit card, but growth peaks out by itself.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: peak out or peek out? peak out or pique?
peak out vs peek out
Means to look out quickly or be partly visible, as in 'The sun peeked out from behind a cloud.' It is spelled with two e's, not ea.
peak out vs pique
Means to interest or annoy someone, as in 'pique someone's curiosity'. It sounds like 'peak' but has a different meaning and spelling.
Practice
Sales ______ at $2 million before dropping sharply.
Choose one answer.
The verb is intransitive, so it takes no object and no preposition before a number: 'Sales peaked out at $2 million' is also correct. Option 1 wrongly adds an object, and options 2 and 3 use prepositions that do not fit this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “peak out”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.