as in culling
to remove less desirable choices from a group or list
They winnowed the pool of applicants down to a few of the strongest candidates. I tried to winnow out the options that weren't a good value for the price.
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Recent Examples of winnowing
The club is winnowing down its pitching options.
—
Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News, 9 Mar. 2026
Is the only pleasure in her winnowing life to be denied?
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 17 Feb. 2026
All that standing and walking and winnowing down culminated with Tuesday night’s best in show event.
—Poupay Jutharat, Vogue, 4 Feb. 2026
As in baseball, the awards race may be winnowing to the two true outcomes — a world where Best Picture nominees are either a huge Hollywood blockbuster or a foreign-language film from Cannes.
—Nate Jones, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
Alegria also sees wild rice production growing using the traditional Indigenous methods of drying, parching, dancing and winnowing at rice camps in northern Wisconsin.
—Frank Vaisvilas, jsonline.com, 4 Dec. 2025
The report resulted in the closure of over half the country’s medical schools, winnowing their numbers down from 148 to 66 over two decades.
—Patrick Aguilar, The Conversation, 17 Oct. 2025
There's something so deeply satisfying about winnowing a huge capital ship down to its smallest components, finding critical welds and junctures, and melting them apart with your heat laser.
—Alan Bradley, Space.com, 7 Oct. 2025
Trump has expressed an interest in winnowing the field of candidates so that one person can take Mamdani head-on.
—Jonathan Easley, The Hill, 5 Sep. 2025
Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News, 9 Mar. 2026
Is the only pleasure in her winnowing life to be denied?
—Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 17 Feb. 2026
All that standing and walking and winnowing down culminated with Tuesday night’s best in show event.
—Poupay Jutharat, Vogue, 4 Feb. 2026
As in baseball, the awards race may be winnowing to the two true outcomes — a world where Best Picture nominees are either a huge Hollywood blockbuster or a foreign-language film from Cannes.
—Nate Jones, Vulture, 19 Dec. 2025
Alegria also sees wild rice production growing using the traditional Indigenous methods of drying, parching, dancing and winnowing at rice camps in northern Wisconsin.
—Frank Vaisvilas, jsonline.com, 4 Dec. 2025
The report resulted in the closure of over half the country’s medical schools, winnowing their numbers down from 148 to 66 over two decades.
—Patrick Aguilar, The Conversation, 17 Oct. 2025
There's something so deeply satisfying about winnowing a huge capital ship down to its smallest components, finding critical welds and junctures, and melting them apart with your heat laser.
—Alan Bradley, Space.com, 7 Oct. 2025
Trump has expressed an interest in winnowing the field of candidates so that one person can take Mamdani head-on.
—Jonathan Easley, The Hill, 5 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for winnowing
Verb
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The culling perfectly played into ongoing fears that AI automation is coming for white-collar jobs, a major job market and economic disruption that workers are becoming increasingly worried about — and which clearly has execs salivating.—
Victor Tangermann,
Futurism,
5 Mar. 2026
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Around 40% of employees expect to follow Siemiatkowski’s lead in culling staff down the line as a result of AI, according to the 2025 World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report.—
Sasha Rogelberg,
Fortune,
19 Feb. 2026
Verb
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With 52 seconds left, Northfield junior Paris Taylor swooped in for an offensive rebound and a put-back, trimming the Falcons’ lead to 49-47.—
Patrick Saunders,
Denver Post,
14 Mar. 2026
-
The Bee Cave City Council on Tuesday approved changes to the city’s tree trimming ordinance that would allow owners to trim trees on their property without a permit.—
Naina Srivastava,
Austin American Statesman,
13 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Pfeiffer opened the scoring in the eighth minute, cutting across from the right wing and beating Denver keeper Abby Smith with her left foot.—
Harold Gutmann,
Mercury News,
15 Mar. 2026
-
The recently recovered Celtics star drew a shooting foul, fed Queta for a cutting dunk and sank a 3-pointer on consecutive Celtics possessions, then pulled up for an 18-footer a minute later.—
Zack Cox,
Boston Herald,
15 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The departments of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development and Transportation, along with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, are instructed to eliminate regulations and update programs that are reducing residential development.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
14 Mar. 2026
-
But the practical effect also meant that the entire second floor of the hotel was turned over to the pope, reducing its capacity for paying guests.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
14 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
Building new housing, paring back regulations to allow such construction quickly and to reduce the cost of buy a home, disincentivizing private firms from buying homes and reducing gas prices are among topics candidates frequently speak about on the campaign trail and in debates.—
Seema Mehta,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Mar. 2026
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But this is true in general of steak knives (as well as paring knives).—
Emily Johnson,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
18 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Winnowing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/winnowing. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.
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