sift

verb

ˈsift 

sifted; sifting; sifts

transitive verb

1

a

: 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

sifter noun

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

Video shows the home gutted as fire investigators sift through the damage once the flames were put out. —Darius Johnson, CBS News, 29 Jan. 2026

For hours, in the suffocating heat, Dooley sifted through endless accounts of mundane colonial matters—church records, itemizations, legal disputes, petty complaints. —Literary Hub, 28 Jan. 2026

Older generations also have to sift through job boards much longer to finally land a gig. —Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 28 Jan. 2026

Researchers at the European Space Agency (ESA) developed an AI tool that sifted through nearly 100 million image cutouts in the Hubble Legacy Archive, a collection of data from as early as 35 years ago. —Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Scientific American, 27 Jan. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Old English siftan; akin to Old English sife sieve

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Rhymes for sift

• clift
• drift
• gift
• lift
• miffed
• rift
• shift
• shrift
• sniffed
• thrift
• tift
• adrift

Kids Definition

sift

verb

ˈsift 

1

a

: 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

sift evidence

sift through a pile of papers

sifter noun