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 Yankees won, 9-6, to whittle Toronto’s series lead to 2-1.
—
Chris Branch, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2025
Mann eventually whittled it down to $170 million.
—Mia Galuppo, HollywoodReporter, 7 Oct. 2025
Schools must follow state mandates on instructional hours, but states typically don’t set strict rules on how long a lunch period should be, so some principals whittle it down to twenty or twenty-five minutes.
—Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2025
The holders are one of 36 teams in the league phase, which kicks off on Tuesday and which, like last season, will consist of a mammoth 189 matches to whittle the field down to 24 by the end of January.
—Dan Cancian, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for whittle
Chris Branch, New York Times, 8 Oct. 2025
Mann eventually whittled it down to $170 million.
—Mia Galuppo, HollywoodReporter, 7 Oct. 2025
Schools must follow state mandates on instructional hours, but states typically don’t set strict rules on how long a lunch period should be, so some principals whittle it down to twenty or twenty-five minutes.
—Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 4 Oct. 2025
The holders are one of 36 teams in the league phase, which kicks off on Tuesday and which, like last season, will consist of a mammoth 189 matches to whittle the field down to 24 by the end of January.
—Dan Cancian, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for whittle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whittle
Verb
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Overall, the inflation data likely add fuel to expectations that the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by another quarter percentage point at its policy meeting later this month - its second consecutive cut.—
NPR,
NPR,
25 Oct. 2025
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Superstar Shohei Ohtani launched a two-run shot to cut the lead down to 11-4, but the momentum still appeared to be on the Blue Jays' side in a raucous Rogers Centre.—
Gabe Smallson,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Her arm was hooked up to an IV with a pulse oximeter clipped to her fingertip.—
Janelle Ash,
FOXNews.com,
24 Oct. 2025
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George Vernadsky clipped the Laurence article and sent it to his father in the Soviet Union.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Shares of SoftBank plunged over 10% before paring losses to about 5%.—
Lim Hui Jie,
CNBC,
21 Oct. 2025
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Golden Bachelor 2025 cast Owens recently pared the group of women vying for his attention down to the final three.—
Jalen Williams,
Freep.com,
20 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Cunha would drop into deeper positions, looking to trap any second balls won, before moving into vacated space.—
The Athletic UK Staff,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
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The loss was an unfamiliar feeling for the Dodgers, who had only dropped one game this entire postseason entering Friday.—
Jacob Lev,
CNN Money,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Referee Michael Oliver appeared to be in a good position to see the accidental clash and take relevant action, looking over the prone Mac Allister as Fernandes fed the ball out to Amad, but made no signal to curtail the United attack.—
Carl Anka,
New York Times,
19 Oct. 2025
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The missing context is that Disney severely curtailed the release of the film because of the Chinese government’s pushback.—
Roxana Hadadi,
Vulture,
17 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Whittle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whittle. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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