whittled (down)

past tense of whittle (down)

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for whittled (down)
Verb
  • If the war does indeed come to an end and oil keeps falling, Warsh might get breathing room for rate cuts down the line.
    Alexa LoMonaco, CNBC, 16 June 2026
  • Courtesy of the Abu Haikal family Haikal said his family’s own homes have been targeted in settler attacks, including having stones thrown at their home, their crops destroyed, trees cut down and property stolen.
    Chantal Da Silva, NBC news, 16 June 2026
Verb
  • ChatGPT's Reddit citation share once dropped from about 60% of responses to 10% in a short period of time, before partly recovering, reportedly because OpenAI deliberately cut back on leaning so heavily on one source.
    Tobias Fischer, Forbes.com, 27 July 2026
  • Regularly cutting back on sleep could cause the number on the scale to creep up, according to new research.
    Kelly McGreal, FOXNews.com, 26 July 2026
Verb
  • By the end of his studies, Salakhutdinov recalled, Yang turned down a job offer from a senior Apple executive who reported directly to Tim Cook.
    John Liu, CNN Money, 24 July 2026
  • Herzog reportedly turned down an out-of-competition slot in Cannes for his new feature, which stars siblings Rooney and Kate Mara in their first on-screen collaboration.
    Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 23 July 2026
Verb
  • With this World Cup and its even bigger numbers, overwhelming media coverage and an American team that actually came with expectations, doors were knocked down.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 25 July 2026
  • Contra Costa County firefighters knocked down a separate pair of residential fires in Pittsburg and Antioch on Friday and Saturday in which three people were hospitalized.
    Grant Stringer, Mercury News, 25 July 2026
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Whittled (down).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whittled%20%28down%29. Accessed 31 Jul. 2026.

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