Meaning
To be continuing to operate with no or very little enthusiasm, energy, or resources left.
Examples
I’ve been painting the house for four hours every night after work, and I am seriously running on fumes at this point.
We were running on fumes by the time our team made it to the championship round.
Origin
Synonyms
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What does the idiom ‘be running on fumes’ mean?
The idiom ‘be running on fumes’ means “to deal with a difficult situation without being harmed or damaged”
How do you use ‘be running on fumes’ in a sentence?
Example usage of idiom ‘be running on fumes’: Newspapers have weathered the storm of online information by providing news online themselves.