Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whittling (down)
Verb
-
Just in time for spooky gatherings, Friendsgiving feasts, and holiday baking marathons, Sam’s Club is cutting back its membership prices.—
Karen Brewer Grossman,
Southern Living,
6 Oct. 2025 -
His crossing has often been a source of frustration, sometimes ballooning the ball too often, taking too long to put it into the area or cutting back on himself hesitantly.—
Matt Woosnam,
New York Times,
30 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
In Georgia, a neonatal intensive care unit colleague who asked not to be named says parents are turning down Tylenol use for premature babies born with a heart condition that has long been successfully treated with the medication.—
Edith Bracho-Sanchez,
CNN Money,
26 Sep. 2025
-
Ament, 18, will soon begin his freshman season for the Tennessee Volunteers after turning down a multitude of suitors.—
Rohan Nadkarni,
NBC news,
18 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The footage showed the elephant, which may have weighed 10,000 pounds, knocking down a female tourist into the waters with her trunk, and then briefly pinning her before giving up, the outlet reported.—
David Chiu,
PEOPLE,
7 Oct. 2025
-
Firefighters initially took a defensive stance, fighting the blaze from the outside the building to stop its spread, before knocking down the flames enough for crews to enter the business, which had its windows boarded up because of vandalism earlier in the week.—
Darrell Smith,
Sacbee.com,
2 Oct. 2025
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.
Cite this Entry
“Whittling (down).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whittling%20%28down%29. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share