whittle away

phrasal 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

While the final hours of 2025 whittle away, here's what to know about what will be open and closed on the first day of 2026. —James Powel, USA Today, 31 Dec. 2025

Over the months that followed, his administration has whittled away at the Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, program for people from a variety of countries, adding Afghanistan to the growing list in May. —Kevin Fixler, Idaho Statesman, 19 Dec. 2025

Greene’s resignation will whittle away the Republican caucus’s already extremely narrow majority in the House. —Dan Mangan, CNBC, 22 Nov. 2025

The preview culminates in a big boss fight wherein Samus must whittle away at the plant-like foe’s armor then guide her psychic shots into its weak points. —Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 14 Nov. 2025

Rhymes for whittle away

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