sift

verb

\ ˈsift

sifted; sifting; sifts

Definition of sift

1a : to put through a sieve sift flour

b : to separate or separate out by or as if by putting through a sieve

2 : to go through especially to sort out what is useful or valuable sifted the evidence —often used with through sift through a pile of old letters

3 : to scatter by or as if by sifting sift sugar on a cake

intransitive verb

1 : to use a sieve

2 : to pass or fall as if through a sieve

Other Words from sift More Example Sentences Learn More about sift

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Examples of sift in a Sentence

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Sift the lumps from the sugar. The police sifted the evidence in hopes of finding a clue. The police sifted for clues. The lawyer sifted through the hundreds of pages of testimony. Firefighters sifted through the debris.

Recent Examples on the Web

One application is in bin picking: A robot able to sift through a box of items and identify, organize and adjust the contents could eventually step in for human workers in shops and warehouses. — Natasha Khan, WSJ, "See Food: Why Robots Are Producing More of What You Eat," 11 Sep. 2018 Lined up on the balcony outside the shop, which is tucked away in a Chinatown office building, a gaggle of green-haired kids is eagerly waiting to sift through the one-of-kind wares. — Maxwell Williams, Vogue, "The New Come Tees Store Brings the Best of L.A.’s Underground Fashion Scene Under One Roof," 18 Apr. 2019 And no wonder, since there are nearly 70,000 diagnosis codes and over 71,000 procedure codes to sift through. — Stephanie Booth, Fox News, "Is your hospital bill accurate?," 27 Sep. 2018 World Sailing had 56 different proposals to sift through before the council voted on the final version, submitted by the Romania' Sailing Federation. — Rob Hodgetts, CNN, "Olympic sailing overhauled in 'gender equity' drive for Paris 2024," 15 May 2018 Now, everyone needs to learn how to edit their own online news consumption, how to sift through and edit their social media feeds themselves. — Alison Caporimo, Seventeen, "What Is Fake News and How Can I Spot It?," 25 Mar. 2019 The process of carefully choosing which items to sift out is all done without human intervention. — John Timmer, Ars Technica, "Bikes, bowling balls, and the delicate balancing act that is modern recycling," 31 Dec. 2018 In some cases, retailers enlist third-party companies to sift through reviews. — Deanna Pai, Glamour, "The Shady World of Online Beauty Reviews," 23 Nov. 2018 Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the remaining sifted dry ingredients and the milk. — Nik Sharma, SFChronicle.com, "A Brown Kitchen: Mango layer cake for a fresh summer treat," 11 July 2018

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