as in sharpened
having an edge thin enough to cut or pierce something
I'll need a well-whetted axe to split the wood
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Recent Examples of whetted
Arts Editor, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2026
And the game itself only whetted his appetite for more information.
—Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2026
The sheer audacity of the recent Louvre heist has whetted us readers’ appetites for heist stories—space heists, all the better!
—Literary Hub, 2 Jan. 2026
Exposure to the outside world, through her father's work, must have whetted MacLeod's appetite for travel, Crichton says.
—Lauren Frayer, NPR, 14 Sep. 2025
Verb
British Museum As excitement builds for the opening of the new Geffen Galleries at LACMA on Sunday (for priority members; May 4 for the general public), one’s appetite may be whetted to visit other museums.
—Arts Editor, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2026
And the game itself only whetted his appetite for more information.
—Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2026
The sheer audacity of the recent Louvre heist has whetted us readers’ appetites for heist stories—space heists, all the better!
—Literary Hub, 2 Jan. 2026
Exposure to the outside world, through her father's work, must have whetted MacLeod's appetite for travel, Crichton says.
—Lauren Frayer, NPR, 14 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whetted
Verb
-
The campaign that year felt predictable — Obama was favored to win — but the political climate was sharpened by the Tea Party, a conservative grassroots movement within the Republican Party that sought to repeal Obamacare.—
Nataliya Gumenyuk,
The Dial,
21 Apr. 2026
-
As the Beatles began to splinter, Spitz writes, the Stones sharpened their focus.—
Marc Ballon,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Nikola Katic, a mountain of a defender, all elbows and sharp edges, was terrific before suffering a season-ending injury during Bosnia and Herzegovina’s World Cup qualification win over Italy.—
Sebastian Stafford-Bloor,
New York Times,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Three candidates are vying to lead Chula Vista, San Diego County’s second-largest city, in the June primary, with the winner set to serve a four-year term atop a City Council that has been marked in recent years by sharp partisan division.—
Walker Armstrong,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Whetted.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whetted. Accessed 29 Apr. 2026.
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