whittle down
phrasal 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
All but 10 hopefuls passed on to the next round, when the judges whittled down the pool to a top three lookalikes.
—
Zoey Lyttle, People.com, 16 June 2025
The World Bank expects Trump’s barrage of new tariffs on America’s trading partners to whittle down global economic growth to its lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis when discounting worldwide recessions, according to a report released Tuesday.
—Anna Cooban, CNN Money, 10 June 2025
In around a week to 10 days’ time, Deadline understands the remaining candidates will be whittled down to two, at which point they will be grilled in front of an interview panel of senior BBC executives, likely including Director General Tim Davie.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 6 June 2025
The city put out a job posting for a new chief in early May, and plans to whittle down the list of applicants to a small group of finalists by early July, according to a city report.
—Harrison Mantas, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 21 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for whittle down
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Zoey Lyttle, People.com, 16 June 2025
The World Bank expects Trump’s barrage of new tariffs on America’s trading partners to whittle down global economic growth to its lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis when discounting worldwide recessions, according to a report released Tuesday.
—Anna Cooban, CNN Money, 10 June 2025
In around a week to 10 days’ time, Deadline understands the remaining candidates will be whittled down to two, at which point they will be grilled in front of an interview panel of senior BBC executives, likely including Director General Tim Davie.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 6 June 2025
The city put out a job posting for a new chief in early May, and plans to whittle down the list of applicants to a small group of finalists by early July, according to a city report.
—Harrison Mantas, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 21 May 2025
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 16 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share