as in debris
discarded or useless material
there's a lot of chaff in this book, and the reader should be on the alert for it
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in laugh
good-natured teasing or exchanging of clever remarks
I got no end of chaff about my accent when I was in the military
Synonyms & Similar Words
1
2
as in to joke
to make jokes
a coworker who likes to chaff at others' expense, and this often results in hurt feelings
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Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of chaff
Keith Cooper, Space.com, 15 Jan. 2026
Archaeobotanists find various parts of plants, including seeds, chaff, fruit pits, nutshells and cobs.
—Alexandria Mitchem Hansen, The Conversation, 19 Dec. 2025
For the rest of us, this is where the wheat and the chaff separate.
—Bo Howard, Rolling Stone, 17 Oct. 2025
Day 2 of school and the wheat’s already been separated from the chaff.
—Inga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for chaff
Noun
Eventually, at the supercomputer facilities of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Germany, algorithms designed to spot RFI sorted the wheat from the chaff, reducing those 12 billion to 1 million, then 1,000.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 15 Jan. 2026
Archaeobotanists find various parts of plants, including seeds, chaff, fruit pits, nutshells and cobs.
—Alexandria Mitchem Hansen, The Conversation, 19 Dec. 2025
For the rest of us, this is where the wheat and the chaff separate.
—Bo Howard, Rolling Stone, 17 Oct. 2025
Day 2 of school and the wheat’s already been separated from the chaff.
—Inga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for chaff
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chaff
Verb
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There’s Manny, Zitzs and EZ, who has a way with the girls; Izzy, an abused boy who hides his family’s secrets, and Gloria, as good at sports as the boys and so fierce nobody teases her little sister about her stutter.—
Mary Ann Grossmann,
Twin Cities,
15 Feb. 2026
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Humphrey's work consists of reviewing thousands of messages and tags, seeking permission from original video creators and balancing humor with teasing.—
Kate Perez,
USA Today,
14 Feb. 2026
Verb
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In a lighthearted Instagram video, Shepherd joked about fellow comedian and BFF Kym Whitley planning to steal memorabilia from the show’s greenroom.—
Assistant Editor,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
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Earlier on Tuesday, Benioff joked about ICE being present at an employee gathering in Las Vegas, 404 Media reported.—
Jordan Novet,
CNBC,
11 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Don't kid yourself into thinking that claiming many new tax breaks will be simple.—
Susan Tompor,
USA Today,
3 Feb. 2026
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Even Shelton, a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist who won his first ATP Masters 1000 title at an Alcaraz-and-Sinner-less Canadian Open last summer, didn’t kid himself about being far off the pace that the world’s two best players have set.—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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When asked about his showing in the mayoral election, Brunson didn’t miss a beat, roasting his buddy who had recently been robbed of $185,000 worth of jewelry.—
Tom Kludt,
Vanity Fair,
17 Feb. 2026
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At China Live, Chen is like a circus ringmaster overseeing a dumpling-making station, a stone oven roasting Peking ducks, a noodle station and a dessert station churning sesame soft serve.—
Terry Tang,
Fortune,
16 Feb. 2026
Verb
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What fools these non-OpenAI mortals must be.—
Jim Cramer,
CNBC,
15 Feb. 2026
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Still, don’t be fooled by the light turnout.—
Alyssa Goldberg,
USA Today,
14 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Chaff.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chaff. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.
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