as in summarizing
to make into a short statement of the main points (as of a report)
the discussion of the problem can be boiled down to a couple of critical points
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Recent Examples of boiling down
Drinks In the drinks department, blueberries are excellent for freezing into ice cubes, infusing into water or tea, or boiling down into a simple syrup, says Hall.
—
Kirsten Nunez, Martha Stewart, 31 Dec. 2025
Paul fears art imitating life by also boiling down to breadline survival strategies.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 29 Aug. 2025
Kirsten Nunez, Martha Stewart, 31 Dec. 2025
Paul fears art imitating life by also boiling down to breadline survival strategies.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 29 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for boiling down
Verb
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The auditor, Andy Hanau, sent the entire council a memo in December summarizing recent savings and efficiencies his office has generated.—
David Garrick,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
5 Feb. 2026
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The next hit product likely won’t be built on summarizing our conversations.—
Catherine Thorbecke,
Twin Cities,
31 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Windass struggled, the sight of the 31-year-old dropping so deep 10 minutes from time to take the ball off Max Cleworth inside his own half summing up how disjointed the visitors had become.—
Richard Sutcliffe,
New York Times,
19 Oct. 2025
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Many Reddit users chimed in to offer their perspective, with one commenter summing up the sentiment shared by many.—
Ashley Vega,
PEOPLE,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The city of Decatur is outlining the steps it's been taking to boost security at schools.—
Monique John,
CBS News,
5 Feb. 2026
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But on June 8, 2023, officers issued an environmental protection compliance order to the company, outlining steps the company was to take.—
Kathryn Hopkins,
Footwear News,
3 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Boiling down.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/boiling%20down. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
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