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
This, in turn, will whittle stream flows.
—
Shi En Kim, AZCentral.com, 31 Mar. 2026
The Vegas Golden Knights, the team directly ahead of the Kings in the Pacific Division standings, have lost six of their last 10, whittling their lead to four points over the Kings in the battle for the division’s third and final postseason berth.
—Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2026
Longman, production exec Suzy Aplin and their team sifted through 1,800 audition tapes before whittling things down.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 20 Mar. 2026
As the tournament begins with the First Four on Tuesday night to whittle the pool down to 64 teams, Brunson knows talk in the locker room will start to heat up about the tournament.
—Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 17 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for whittle
Shi En Kim, AZCentral.com, 31 Mar. 2026
The Vegas Golden Knights, the team directly ahead of the Kings in the Pacific Division standings, have lost six of their last 10, whittling their lead to four points over the Kings in the battle for the division’s third and final postseason berth.
—Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2026
Longman, production exec Suzy Aplin and their team sifted through 1,800 audition tapes before whittling things down.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 20 Mar. 2026
As the tournament begins with the First Four on Tuesday night to whittle the pool down to 64 teams, Brunson knows talk in the locker room will start to heat up about the tournament.
—Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 17 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for whittle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whittle
Verb
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The Tempo cut it to three midway through the fourth while Brittany Sykes (27 points, seven assists) sparked Toronto’s rally.—
Marisa Ingemi,
Los Angeles Times,
16 May 2026
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Kreutzer cuts clunkily and repeatedly between the ongoing crises in two households, presumably implying that the men in these women’s lives are all tarred with the same patriarchal brush.—
Stephanie Bunbury,
Deadline,
15 May 2026
Verb
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In multiple cases, other road users struck the autonomous vehicle from behind or clipped it while passing.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
16 May 2026
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The Cavs may clip the Pistons in Game 7 on Sunday, even on the road.—
Mike Lupica,
New York Daily News,
16 May 2026
Verb
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Intel was up more than 6% and Qualcomm was up more than 12% before both stocks pared initial gains.—
Tobias Burns,
CNBC,
11 May 2026
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Smaller parades are held elsewhere across the country, but this time many of them have also been pared down or even canceled altogether for security reasons.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
9 May 2026
Verb
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Drake also released seven music videos on YouTube in the hours following the album drops.—
Melina Khan,
USA Today,
16 May 2026
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Walmart has dropped the Canon EOS R5 Mark II camera to its lowest-ever price in this incredible Canon camera deal for astrophotographers.—
Paul Brett,
Space.com,
15 May 2026
Verb
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The Federal Aviation Administration has curtailed Boeing’s production of the 737 Max since the January 2024 Alaska Airlines door plug incident , which underscored its long-running quality control problems.—
Morgan Chittum,
CNBC,
12 May 2026
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In a country that bills itself as a beacon of free speech, educational institutions especially should not be curtailing it.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
8 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Whittle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whittle. Accessed 18 May. 2026.
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