as in grinding
to make sharp or sharper
you need to sharpen your penknife's blade frequently in order to be able to whittle properly
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Recent Examples of sharpening
What philosophy does is force leaders to think more carefully about their own lives and careers, while sharpening their judgement and understanding of power, ambition, ethics, and other issues central to leadership.
—
Theodore McDarrah, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026
The surge is sharpening divides in a city defined by its extremes.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 27 May 2026
Over several hours, fermentation continues and more acid develops, thickening the yogurt further and sharpening its flavor.
—Samantha Agate, Charlotte Observer, 23 May 2026
Mercury enters Gemini in your 10th House of Career, sharpening conversations around deadlines, visibility, and public responsibility.
—Tarot.com, Chicago Tribune, 17 May 2026
Rourke has been sharpening his mechanics with Williams up in Canada — he was born in Kitchener, Ontario — for the past five years.
—Vic Tafur, New York Times, 14 May 2026
The Sun forms a cazimi with Mercury in Taurus in your 10th House of Career, sharpening your sense of direction, timing, and public voice.
—Tarot.com, Hartford Courant, 14 May 2026
Comparing data with these missions will allow the mission scientists to hone their calibration of the imaging instruments, sharpening the interpretation of their data once the mission arrives at the asteroid Psyche.
—Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 14 May 2026
By evening, the Moon enters your 1st House of Self, sharpening courage, attraction, and initiative.
—Tarot.com, The Orlando Sentinel, 12 May 2026
Theodore McDarrah, Forbes.com, 28 May 2026
The surge is sharpening divides in a city defined by its extremes.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 27 May 2026
Over several hours, fermentation continues and more acid develops, thickening the yogurt further and sharpening its flavor.
—Samantha Agate, Charlotte Observer, 23 May 2026
Mercury enters Gemini in your 10th House of Career, sharpening conversations around deadlines, visibility, and public responsibility.
—Tarot.com, Chicago Tribune, 17 May 2026
Rourke has been sharpening his mechanics with Williams up in Canada — he was born in Kitchener, Ontario — for the past five years.
—Vic Tafur, New York Times, 14 May 2026
The Sun forms a cazimi with Mercury in Taurus in your 10th House of Career, sharpening your sense of direction, timing, and public voice.
—Tarot.com, Hartford Courant, 14 May 2026
Comparing data with these missions will allow the mission scientists to hone their calibration of the imaging instruments, sharpening the interpretation of their data once the mission arrives at the asteroid Psyche.
—Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 14 May 2026
By evening, the Moon enters your 1st House of Self, sharpening courage, attraction, and initiative.
—Tarot.com, The Orlando Sentinel, 12 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sharpening
Verb
-
Nine crucial years of expansion and solidification of the pernicious institution went by, speeding the nation’s road toward a grinding war.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 June 2026
-
After more than four years, Russia’s full-scale invasion has morphed into a grinding war of attrition where soldiers are being killed en masse, financial losses are piling up and Kyiv has started to liberate more land than Moscow has seized.—
Helen Regan,
CNN Money,
2 June 2026
Verb
-
Fluid intelligence follows this pattern, too, for anyone interested in honing it.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2026
-
Riley kept moving, crashing parties at the Sundance Film Festival and toting the screenplay everywhere, honing his pitch.—
Emily Nussbaum,
New Yorker,
17 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sharpening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sharpening. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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