cull

verb \ ˈkəl \

|Updated on: 20 Jul 2018

Examples: cull in a Sentence

Definition of cull

culled; culling; culls

transitive verb

1 : to select from a group : choose

culled the best passages from the poet's work

Damaged fruits are culled before the produce is shipped.

2 : to reduce or control the size of (something, such as a herd) by removal (as by hunting) of especially weaker animals; also : to hunt or kill (animals) as a means of population control

The town issued hunting licenses in order to cull the deer population.

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culler

noun

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Examples of cull in a Sentence

He culls his herd annually.
The town issued hunting licenses in order to cull the deer population.

Recent Examples of cull from the Web

The idea was to vet and cull potential candidates for the Supreme Court long before vacancies even arose, so that Republican presidents could pick from rosters of would-be nominees whose records were known.

— peter baker, New York Times, "A Conservative Court Push Decades in the Making, With Effects for Decades to Come," 9 July 2018
Smith, who has been culling documents related to the fatal fire, said his review of those documents wouldn’t be complete for another two weeks.

— amy lavalley, Post-Tribune, "'Any junk science will be excluded,' judge in arson-murder trial says," 5 July 2018
Her camps and year-round classes for people of all ages offer techniques culled from a range of martial arts.

— jill tucker, SFChronicle.com, "San Francisco superhero camp hits on altruistic themes," 4 July 2018
Here are some common-sense tips culled from what seems like a lifetime of attending this thing.

— jeffrey lee puckett, The Courier-Journal, "Don't leave home without this guide to Forecastle Festival 2018," 3 July 2018
The Bedortha Brothers created cigar cutters and levelers, with the levelers culled from cherry wood.

— dennis hohenberger, Courant Community, "Historian Bob Bell Examines 'Makin' Stuff In Windsor'," 2 July 2018
Researchers have been culling the lizards in an attempt to manage their large numbers in the Sunshine State.

— james rogers, Fox News, "Iguana drama: Viral video shows dueling lizards in Starbucks parking lot," 25 June 2018
Cities culled from the list were Atlanta, Birmingham, New York City and San Francisco.

— mike morris, Houston Chronicle, "Houston makes short list for the 2020 Democratic National Convention," 20 June 2018
Between 2003 and 2013, deaths associated with HIV/AIDS fell in the United States by 49%, based on numbers culled from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Vital Statistics Reports.

— jessica ravitz, CNN, "Calls to suicide prevention hotline spiked after celebrity deaths, but what's the next step?," 12 June 2018

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