as in cutting
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.
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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.
Recent Examples of whittling
Here, artisans guide visitors through the basics of whittling and woodturning workshops, teaching you about the tools and techniques of one of the oldest forms of art.
—
Essence, 20 Oct. 2025
Beauty was whittling myself down with anorexia and the gasps of college friends at the beauty of my bones through my skin.
—Literary Hub, 18 Aug. 2025
Essence, 20 Oct. 2025
Beauty was whittling myself down with anorexia and the gasps of college friends at the beauty of my bones through my skin.
—Literary Hub, 18 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whittling
Verb
-
In 2022, debris from an underwater volcanic eruption severed the island's only subsea communication cable, cutting the island off from the rest of the world.—
Magdalena Petrova,
CNBC,
8 Nov. 2025
-
Richard’s motor ran high despite the lopsided score, cutting for two layups and also canning a 3-pointer to put up a quick seven points in the period.—
Joseph Dycus,
Mercury News,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Melissa went on to tear through Cuba and the Bahamas before clipping Bermuda on its way out to sea.—
Anna Skinner,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 Nov. 2025
-
Next to a wooden model of an ibis and a Brazil shirt signed by 1994 World Cup winner Ricardo Rocha is a small newspaper clipping.—
Jack Lang,
New York Times,
11 Oct. 2025
Verb
-
If confirmed by future research, the approach could provide a powerful new weapon to fight heart disease, the nation's leading killer, freeing people from the need to take statins and other cholesterol-lowering drugs every day.—
NPR,
NPR,
8 Nov. 2025
-
Expanding options for patients For people with high LDL cholesterol who may not respond sufficiently to commonly used treatments like statins alone, there is already the option to take injectable cholesterol-lowering PCSK9 inhibitors that are currently on the market.—
Jacqueline Howard,
CNN Money,
8 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Whittling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whittling. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share