whittle down
verb
whittled down; whittling down; whittles down
: to gradually make (something) smaller by removing parts
We whittled the list down to four people.
Examples of whittle down in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In recent days, Senate supporters have whittled down the scope of the plan, authorizing it only for Cook County and Chicago sites rather than statewide as Pritzker originally intended.
—
Jeremy Gorner, Chicago Tribune, 30 May 2026
Zebby Matthews found himself on the outside looking in this spring as the Twins whittled down the number of starters in camp from six to five.
—Betsy Helfand, Twin Cities, 14 May 2026
The more drastic option of expanding the tournament to 96 teams or beyond would involve adding an extra week to a tournament that has thrived in part because of the symmetry of a six-round bracket that gets whittled down over three weeks.
—Eddie Pells, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2026
Not much has changed as the screenings did not seem to whittle down the batch of pilots significantly, so testing results may help break some ties.
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 1 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for whittle down
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Jeremy Gorner, Chicago Tribune, 30 May 2026
Zebby Matthews found himself on the outside looking in this spring as the Twins whittled down the number of starters in camp from six to five.
—Betsy Helfand, Twin Cities, 14 May 2026
The more drastic option of expanding the tournament to 96 teams or beyond would involve adding an extra week to a tournament that has thrived in part because of the symmetry of a six-round bracket that gets whittled down over three weeks.
—Eddie Pells, Los Angeles Times, 7 May 2026
Not much has changed as the screenings did not seem to whittle down the batch of pilots significantly, so testing results may help break some ties.
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 1 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for whittle down
Cite this Entry
“Whittle down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whittle%20down. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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