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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of whittle
The Bulls trailed by 21 midway through the third quarter and whittled it down to 8 points on Nikola Vučević’s putback with 4:45 to play, and pulled to within four on Coby White’s three-pointer with 27 seconds left.
—
Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 20 Mar. 2025
The show was ably organized by Evans, who whittled the initial selection from Bachardy’s prodigious archive, with Dennis Carr, Huntington chief curator of American art, and Karla Nielsen, the library’s senior curator of literary collections.
—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2025
Those responses would be collected and reviewed as both parties whittle the enormous pool of people down to just 12 jurors and a handful of alternates.
—Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 14 Mar. 2025
The Grizzlies opened a 10-point lead at 49-39 with 4:40 to play, but the Crusaders whittled the deficit to three and had the ball with 25 seconds to play.
—John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for whittle
Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune, 20 Mar. 2025
The show was ably organized by Evans, who whittled the initial selection from Bachardy’s prodigious archive, with Dennis Carr, Huntington chief curator of American art, and Karla Nielsen, the library’s senior curator of literary collections.
—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2025
Those responses would be collected and reviewed as both parties whittle the enormous pool of people down to just 12 jurors and a handful of alternates.
—Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 14 Mar. 2025
The Grizzlies opened a 10-point lead at 49-39 with 4:40 to play, but the Crusaders whittled the deficit to three and had the ball with 25 seconds to play.
—John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for whittle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whittle
Verb
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Republican bill cuts Medicaid for unemployed, undocumented children, Planned Parenthood How much do Americans rely on programs like Medicaid and Social Security?—
Riley Beggin,
USA Today,
23 May 2025
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During that same period, the company cut 3,000 jobs.—
Lindsay Owens,
Time,
22 May 2025
Verb
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The Japanese driver clipped the kerb and lost control of the rear of the RB21.—
Lydia Mee,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 May 2025
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The funny thing about cord cutters is that their numbers are growing — and the size of this group is being fueled, obviously, by people clipping their ties to cable.—
Brian Steinberg,
Variety,
16 May 2025
Verb
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As the summer heats up, Greenblatt is paring back her beauty routine.—
Catherine Santino,
People.com,
16 May 2025
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After devoting two nights to dramas last fall, Fox has pared back to one night — Tuesdays — of hour-long shows along with its usual Sunday animation block.—
Rick Porter,
HollywoodReporter,
12 May 2025
Verb
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With Philips dropping down, Pannek perfectly placed the puck in the pocket above Philips’ right shoulder.—
Hailey Salvian,
New York Times,
27 May 2025
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After dropping Saturday’s game to the Marlins (21-30) in 6-2 fashion, the Angels (25-27) couldn’t respond Sunday, falling 3-0 to Miami to lose the weekend series.—
Houston Mitchell,
Los Angeles Times,
26 May 2025
Verb
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Under Trump, border encounters with migrants have dropped dramatically amid tougher enforcement and drastically curtailed asylum and refugee programs.—
Michael Smolens,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
16 May 2025
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Republicans also face unfavorable odds of curtailing a long-standing practice by nearly every state -- known as provider taxes -- through which states pay some of their share of Medicaid costs by taxing hospitals, nursing homes and other providers.—
Phil Galewitz,
ABC News,
14 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Whittle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whittle. Accessed 30 May. 2025.
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