whittle away

verb

whittled away; whittling away; whittles away

: to reduce or get rid of (something) slowly

I'm still trying to whittle away a few more pounds.

Examples of whittle away in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Georgia Democrats have spent years whittling away at the Republican majority in the state House and have an outside shot of flipping the chamber this year. — Greg Bluestein, AJC.com, 26 Oct. 2026

Last weekend in Highland, Michigan, Rogers dismissed El-Sayed's attempts to whittle away at his GOP base of support. — Aaron Navarro, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026

But a stumble to open September whittles away a team’s margin for error. — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 19 Sep. 2026

Thus, as that outer layer is whittled away, there is less and less material to be stripped away in subsequent episodes. — Robert Lea, Space.com, 1 Sep. 2026

Rhymes for whittle away

• andromache
• bioassay
• cabriolet
• cercariae
• communique
• companionway
• compositae
• decussate
• examinee
• fabaceae
• glyphosate
• gramineae