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

After two jumps/throws, only the top six progress, and that is whittled down to four for the final attempt. — Liam Tharme, New York Times, 11 Sep. 2026

Sure, the Gators still played a ten game, All SEC slate, but access to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium was greatly limited, as the stadium which normally seats upwards of 90,000 fans on gameday had its attendance whittled down to less than 20,000. — Austin Perry Outkick, FOXNews.com, 10 Sep. 2026

With so many of these films destined to wind up on streaming services rather than art houses, there’s little incentive for directors to whittle down their work to the two-hour mark. — Nate Jones, Vulture, 10 Sep. 2026

As federal officials have whittled down the countries that still qualify for Temporary Protected Status, Salvadorans make up the largest population of remaining beneficiaries. — Itzel Luna, Los Angeles Times, 9 Sep. 2026

Rhymes for whittle down

• chinatown
• tumbledown
• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown