Synonyms of whittling

whittling

verb

present participle of whittle

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

• cutting
• clipping
• lowering
• paring
• dropping
• trimming
• reducing
• slashing
• pruning
• curtailing
• nicking
• shortening
• decreasing
• abridging
• cutting down
• retrenching
• truncating
• cropping
• dwindling
• abbreviating
• lessening
• cutting back
• depleting
• downsizing
• denting
• easing
• docking
• compressing
• condensing
• abating
• contracting
• constricting
• shrinking
• knocking down
• minimizing
• downscaling
• modifying
• de-escalating
• deflating
• moderating
• modulating
• qualifying

Dissimilar Words

• swelling
• extending
• lengthening
• inflating
• dilating
• prolonging
• adding (to)
• supplementing
• blowing up
• enhancing
• distending
• complementing
• increasing
• intensifying
• elongating
• expanding
• enlarging
• heightening
• protracting
• augmenting
• raising
• amplifying
• escalating
• boosting
• redoubling
• aggrandizing

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of whittling

The film eventually ballooned to six hours before Gibney began whittling it back. — Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026

Voters set up races for four Orange County commission seats in November by whittling casts of candidates to two in districts 2, 6, 7 and 8. — Stephen Hudak, The Orlando Sentinel, 19 Aug. 2026

This man is whittling a star for the tree and standing up for eldest daughters everywhere? — Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 11 July 2026

New York was down by as much as 16 points in Game 5 before slowly whittling the Spurs’ lead away. — Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 14 June 2026

The authors disagreed with that earlier assessment, concluding that the bone marks were more consistent with whittling using a sharp implement. — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 11 June 2026

Leaders have reinforced that narrative by whittling their workforces in the name of AI. — Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 1 June 2026

In a normal year, casting director Jesse Tannenbaum and his team sift through 25,000 applications, per Backstage, whittling them down to just 18 players per season. — Charlotte Walsh, PEOPLE, 20 May 2026

Crystal Palace, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest have all made their excuses and left the fight for Premier League survival, whittling it down to just two potential candidates to join Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Championship next season. — Philip Buckingham, New York Times, 12 May 2026