WINNOW Synonyms: 123 Similar and Opposite Words

winnow

verb

as in to cull

to remove less desirable choices from a group or list They winnowed the pool of applicants down to a few of the strongest candidates. I tried to winnow out the options that weren't a good value for the price.

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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 winnow Finally, Thoreau winnowed once again, translating some, but not all, of the list items to his charts of general phenomena, and carefully noting the dates on which each phenomenon occurred in the spaces of the grid. —

Literary Hub, 17 Dec. 2025 Alegria also sees wild rice production growing using the traditional Indigenous methods of drying, parching, dancing and winnowing at rice camps in northern Wisconsin. —

Frank Vaisvilas, jsonline.com, 4 Dec. 2025 The report resulted in the closure of over half the country’s medical schools, winnowing their numbers down from 148 to 66 over two decades. —

Patrick Aguilar, The Conversation, 17 Oct. 2025 There's something so deeply satisfying about winnowing a huge capital ship down to its smallest components, finding critical welds and junctures, and melting them apart with your heat laser. —

Alan Bradley, Space.com, 7 Oct. 2025 See All Example Sentences for winnow

Recent Examples of Synonyms for winnow

Verb

Fundrise culls its data from both public records and private databases.

— Diana Olick, CNBC, 27 Jan. 2026
How golfers rely on — and leverage — technology fascinates Skenes, from the numbers culled relative to swing speed and ball flight to how their bodies must be in sync to generate so much club speed.

— Tribune News Service, The Orlando Sentinel, 23 Jan. 2026