as in debris
discarded or useless material
there's a lot of chaff in this book, and the reader should be on the alert for it
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in laugh
good-natured teasing or exchanging of clever remarks
I got no end of chaff about my accent when I was in the military
Synonyms & Similar Words
1
2
as in to joke
to make jokes
a coworker who likes to chaff at others' expense, and this often results in hurt feelings
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of chaff
Literary Hub, 25 Mar. 2026
In Figure 2, after the corn stalks are plucked, the cobs are separated and the chaff pulverized.
—Sabbir Rangwala, Forbes.com, 26 Jan. 2026
That makes the task of sorting wheat from chaff much more time-consuming for editors and referees, and also more technically difficult.
—Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 2026
Eventually, at the supercomputer facilities of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Germany, algorithms designed to spot RFI sorted the wheat from the chaff, reducing those 12 billion to 1 million, then 1,000.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 15 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for chaff
Noun
Compared with the seeds of almost every other plant, grass seed is highly palatable, especially for a dexterous ape whose hands can slough off the chaff.
—Literary Hub, 25 Mar. 2026
In Figure 2, after the corn stalks are plucked, the cobs are separated and the chaff pulverized.
—Sabbir Rangwala, Forbes.com, 26 Jan. 2026
That makes the task of sorting wheat from chaff much more time-consuming for editors and referees, and also more technically difficult.
—Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 2026
Eventually, at the supercomputer facilities of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Germany, algorithms designed to spot RFI sorted the wheat from the chaff, reducing those 12 billion to 1 million, then 1,000.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 15 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for chaff
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chaff
Noun
-
Meanwhile, about a kilometre away, workers began clearing debris from the old site of the primary-care center, making room for a permanent replacement.—
Clayton Dalton,
New Yorker,
15 May 2026
-
Try to find a place that will block blowing or falling debris.—
CA Weather Bot,
Sacbee.com,
14 May 2026
Noun
-
But when the Phillies remember the good times — the champagne toasts, the boisterous October clubhouses, the laughs shared on the field in the clubhouse — Suarez will always be there.—
Charlotte Varnes,
New York Times,
15 May 2026
-
Hammond spent a year at the Comedy Cellar trying to crack Al Gore and never got a laugh.—
Seth Abramovitch,
HollywoodReporter,
15 May 2026
Verb
-
All the thespian’s chemistry felt less like castmates promoting a production and more like siblings teasing one another out of deep affection.—
Clayton Davis,
Variety,
18 May 2026
-
Rumors are flying that Google will unveil or tease its Gemini 4 AI model — and that's a big deal because the introduction of Gemini 3 in November was a huge success and sent shares rallying .—
Zev Fima,Kevin Stankiewicz,
CNBC,
17 May 2026
Verb
-
An unidentified man off camera joked that Barr already got in trouble over there, too.—
Madeleine Marr,
Miami Herald,
20 May 2026
-
Iyengar joked about the marketplace now offering over 100 different shades of white paint as an example of meaningless differentiation.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
20 May 2026
Noun
-
Some argue that parking, sewer and garbage – the infrastructure designed for single-family homes – is being stretched too thin.—
Lee Cowan,
CBS News,
17 May 2026
-
However, the playoffs have delivered over and over to viewers and rewarded us for putting up with garbage regular-season games.—
David Troy,
FOXNews.com,
16 May 2026
Noun
-
The ‘banter’ era settled in, with every collapse, every disappointment, every failure amplified in the fever swamps of social media.—
Ian Crouch,
New Yorker,
20 May 2026
-
Ngannou then engaged in some promotional banter with Paul, who has made a boxing career out of beating martial artists.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
16 May 2026
Verb
-
And, don’t kid yourself, the Thunder aren’t going anywhere for a long, long time.—
Mike Bianchi,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 May 2026
-
Gosling, of course, was kidding.—
Jake Coyle,
Fortune,
6 May 2026
Noun
-
Dirty filters can cause allergies by circulating dust, mold, and other allergens throughout your home when the AC is on during the summer.—
Hiranmayi Srinivasan,
Better Homes & Gardens,
17 May 2026
-
Their modus operandi is to rescue interesting old buildings in a sorry state of disrepair and liberally sprinkle fairy dust over them.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
16 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Chaff.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chaff. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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