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

With too few people and too little time to sift through it all, METR used AI itself to analyze its findings, burning the equivalent of $400,000 in API credits supplied by OpenAI during their six on-site days. — Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 28 Aug. 2026

In past decades, only one or two very new releases might have made the cut; canonization is usually a retrospective project of sifting through the past to see what art stands the test of time. — Sophia Nguyen, The Atlantic, 28 Aug. 2026

Roman, however, can uniquely sift through Andromeda’s stars much more minutely because of its wider field of view. — Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 27 Aug. 2026

But before any company can send a full-scale extractor to the Moon to attempt to sift through regolith and collect helium-3, someone should probably attempt to determine whether this is physically practical. — Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 26 Aug. 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