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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Recent Examples of winnow
Trump has expressed an interest in winnowing the field of candidates so that one person can take Mamdani head-on.
—
Jonathan Easley, The Hill, 5 Sep. 2025
And his anxieties seem propelled by a fear of winnowing potential, the feeling that he might be left behind.
—Jeremy Gordon, The Atlantic, 22 Aug. 2025
The outcome has been regulatory and policy decisions that have winnowed vaccine access and development.
—Stephanie Armour, CNN Money, 18 Aug. 2025
As of early August, Airbus had winnowed the gap to just 20 units, with 12,155 lifetime A320-family shipments, according to the data.
—Jason Ma, Fortune, 17 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for winnow
Jonathan Easley, The Hill, 5 Sep. 2025
And his anxieties seem propelled by a fear of winnowing potential, the feeling that he might be left behind.
—Jeremy Gordon, The Atlantic, 22 Aug. 2025
The outcome has been regulatory and policy decisions that have winnowed vaccine access and development.
—Stephanie Armour, CNN Money, 18 Aug. 2025
As of early August, Airbus had winnowed the gap to just 20 units, with 12,155 lifetime A320-family shipments, according to the data.
—Jason Ma, Fortune, 17 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for winnow
Recent Examples of Synonyms for winnow
Verb
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It's also been culling its footprint of Go cashierless convenience stores.—
Annie Palmer,
CNBC,
3 Oct. 2025
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That could even lead a farmer to decide to cull the herd, and send cows to a meat processing plant—which also might be short of workers these days.—
Emma Hinchliffe,
Fortune,
3 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Similar to other restaurant chains like Chili’s, Red Lobster is working to pare down its menu, eliminating items that don’t perform as well to increase restaurant efficiencies.—
Sydney Lake,
Fortune,
1 Oct. 2025
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Despite the bold tones and sculptural silhouettes on display, the beauty direction stayed pared-back and refined, focused on skincare, highlighting Prada Beauty’s skincare line.—
Kristine Kwak,
StyleCaster,
28 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Tommy Castellanos threw a pair of touchdown passes (with two-point conversions) and drove into field goal range to trim Miami’s lead from 28-3 to 28-22.—
Manny Navarro,
New York Times,
5 Oct. 2025
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Built-in editing tools enable you to crop, trim, merge clips, add watermarks, and extract subtitles for complete control.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
5 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Vance said one portion of Democrats are making unreasonable demands to restore more than $1 trillion over the next decade in healthcare spending that was cut earlier this year.—
Bart Jansen,
USA Today,
4 Oct. 2025
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Training, professional development, and the Safe Cities Partnership are among the areas cut.—
Paul Egan,
Freep.com,
3 Oct. 2025
Verb
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To reduce the risk of mosquito bites and West Nile virus, health officials recommend using insect repellent and wearing long sleeves and long pants when outdoors, especially during peak mosquito activity at dawn and dusk.—
Caroline Neal,
Louisville Courier Journal,
2 Oct. 2025
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Autos Are an Economic Anchor China’s bold move into electric vehicles began in 2009 as a top-down policy to compete with foreign automakers, cut air pollution and reduce oil imports.—
Rebecca A. Fannin,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The next section breaks down the absolute fundamentals of baking, like how to use parchment paper and sift flour.—
Elisabeth Sherman,
Parents,
30 Sep. 2025
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Between work, family, and everything else on our plates, who has time to sift through countless hours of content to find the gems or the right voices to guide your life and career journey.—
Kimberly Wilson,
Essence,
23 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Winnow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/winnow. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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