To phase out something is to stop using it gradually. Not banned overnight — withdrawn in stages.
It splits round an object. Policy and industry use it constantly, so phasing out a chemical, a subsidy or a model means setting a timetable rather than a cut-off. The advantage is that nobody is left stranded, which is exactly why governments prefer it. The noun is a phase-out, and its opposite, phase in, means introducing something gradually in the same way.
1phrasephase outTo discontinue something gradually over a planned period.
“They will phase out the old handsets over two years.”
Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 11 of A Man Called Ove.
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