boil down

boiled down; boiling down; boils down

Definition of boil down

transitive verb

1 : to reduce in bulk by boiling

2 : condense, summarize boil down a report

intransitive verb

1 : to undergo reduction in bulk by boiling

2a : to be equivalent in summary : amount his speech boiled down to a plea for more money

b : to reduce ultimately your choices boil down to three

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Examples of boil down in a Sentence

the discussion of the problem can be boiled down to a couple of critical points

Recent Examples on the Web Alex Strohl’s journey to becoming one of Instagram’s most followed travel photographers boils down to prodigious talent and serendipitous timing. — Noah Kaufman, Condé Nast Traveler, "How Photographer Alex Strohl Snapped Surfers on a Frozen Canadian River," 18 Nov. 2019 His message can be boiled down to this: Keeping the team’s best prospects made more sense than supplementing a flawed third-place team via trades. — Peter Abraham, BostonGlobe.com, "We can thank Astros, Diamondbacks for saving the trade deadline," 3 Aug. 2019 These analytics boil down to numbers of shots for and against and numbers of quality shots for and against. — Chris Wassel, USA TODAY Sportsbook Wire, "Blackhawks-Ducks odds: Chicago tabbed as underdog," 3 Nov. 2019 The answer boils down to three T’s: technology, taste, and terrible pay. — Anne Quito, Quartzy, "Why editorial illustrations look so similar these days," 26 Oct. 2019 The main controversy boils down to when that procedure should take place. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Jets don’t seem to have ample cause to discipline Kelechi Osemele," 19 Oct. 2019 The question boils down to whatever messages couples take away in private conversations on their rides home from the Golden Theatre. — Miles Marshall Lewis, Essence, "Jeremy O. Harris's Broadway Debut 'Slave Play' Isn't For Everyone," 9 Oct. 2019 The qualities that seem to make for a good N.F.L. player, as opposed to someone who excelled in college, had been boiled down to a handful of traits: speed, strength, athleticism, intelligence, poise. — Rich Cohen, Harper's magazine, "The Wood Chipper," 19 Aug. 2019 As TechHive’s Michael Brown has noted, the differences between HDMI and DisplayPort boil down to this: HDMI was designed primarily for consumer electronics applications: Blu-ray players, TVs, and video projectors. — Mark Hachman, PCWorld, "DisplayPort 2.0 launches, promising 8K video support by late 2020," 26 June 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'boil down.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near boil down

Boileau-Despréaux

boiled-off silk

Statistics for boil down

Last Updated

2 Dec 2019

Cite this Entry

“Boil down.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boil%20down. Accessed 14 December 2019.

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