as in to cut
to cause to diminish gradually by or as if by cutting off bits with a knife
He was sitting on the porch, whittling a stick.
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Recent Examples of whittle
The stories were prose-poem length, whittled to the bone.
—
Danielle Ofri, New Yorker, 7 June 2025
Friday was the day that attorneys for the prosecution and defense would further question the 43 men and women from the jury pool, whittling that group down to 12 jurors and six alternates by exercising their peremptory strikes.
—Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 9 May 2025
Still, for those that have amended their targets lower in recent days, here is where each stands now: Goldman Sachs: trims price target to $256 from $259 Analyst Michael Ng whittled $3 off his price target to come in at $256.
—Alex Harring, CNBC, 23 Apr. 2025
This style can work for something like Top Chef: Portland’s tofu tournament, which whittled six chefs down to five.
—Caroline Framke, Vulture, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for whittle
Danielle Ofri, New Yorker, 7 June 2025
Friday was the day that attorneys for the prosecution and defense would further question the 43 men and women from the jury pool, whittling that group down to 12 jurors and six alternates by exercising their peremptory strikes.
—Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 9 May 2025
Still, for those that have amended their targets lower in recent days, here is where each stands now: Goldman Sachs: trims price target to $256 from $259 Analyst Michael Ng whittled $3 off his price target to come in at $256.
—Alex Harring, CNBC, 23 Apr. 2025
This style can work for something like Top Chef: Portland’s tofu tournament, which whittled six chefs down to five.
—Caroline Framke, Vulture, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for whittle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whittle
Verb
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The prospect of trying to cut open a stubborn 5-4-1 block in the Orlando heat could have become torturous quite quickly.—
Liam Tharme,
New York Times,
28 June 2025
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The latest setback was the Senate parliamentarian striking down several provisions of the bill that were designed to cut spending.—
Haisten Willis,
The Washington Examiner,
27 June 2025
Verb
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Pinch-hitter Jose Tabata fouled off a pair of 2-2 pitches before Scherzer clipped him on the elbow with a breaking ball.—
Houston Mitchell,
Los Angeles Times,
20 June 2025
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In one snap, the proud mom can be seen sitting in a pair of pajamas with her hair halfway clipped up as Santi sits on her lap, smiling at the camera.—
Angel Saunders,
People.com,
19 June 2025
Verb
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Each has flares of humor and surprise, but there is something cramped about them too, a sense of exhausted expectations, of a genre being pared down to a bundle of tropes.—
Charlie Lee,
Harpers Magazine,
18 June 2025
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University Endowment Tax The Senate bill significantly pares back the House’s plans to increase taxes on investment income generated by private university endowments.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
17 June 2025
Verb
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In the same month, residential sales by value dropped 6.1 percent year-on-year, while real-estate investment plunged 12 percent from a year earlier.—
Giulia Carbonaro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
19 June 2025
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In a near instant, the stock share prices for both Renault and Casio dropped.—
George Varga,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
19 June 2025
Verb
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The beginning of a provision meant to curtail the Medicaid program helping immigrant seniors would start in October 2027, according to the county.—
A.D. Quig,
Chicago Tribune,
18 June 2025
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Russia helped facilitate a previous deal to curtail Iran’s uranium program, which Trump pulled the United States out of in his first term.—
Francesca Chambers,
USA Today,
16 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Whittle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whittle. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
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