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
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Recent Examples of winnow
The museum has closed and the entire Klairmont collection — which in recent years was winnowed down to 284 cars — will be sold by Mecum Auctions.
—
Nina Metz, Boston Herald, 17 Sep. 2025
Overnight, this winnowed the field.
—Robert Hoban, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for winnow
Nina Metz, Boston Herald, 17 Sep. 2025
Overnight, this winnowed the field.
—Robert Hoban, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for winnow
Recent Examples of Synonyms for winnow
Verb
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But the troops won’t be culling the bears – they’re not allowed to under Japanese law.—
Jessie Yeung,
CNN Money,
7 Nov. 2025
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All the information that Gemini is drawing upon will be culled from the roughly 250 million places stored in Google Maps’ database of reviews accumulated during the past 20 years.—
Michael Liedtke,
Fortune,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Dan Rogers, vp and executive producer at the Opry, tells Billboard how the 20 album choices were pared down from the Opry 100 greatest songs list.—
Melinda Newman,
Billboard,
6 Nov. 2025
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Her wavy, dark brunette hair was styled in a side part, while Queen Letizia’s makeup was pared back.—
Kelsey Stewart,
Footwear News,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Fears aired an alley-oop dunk to forward Carson Cooper on the next play, the first score of the second half, to trim Arkansas’ lead to 39-38.—
Matt Byrne,
Arkansas Online,
9 Nov. 2025
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The key is to fold the scarf over itself to create volume and to look for a lace trim that leaves the hem frayed, so as not to look too formal.—
Arancha Gamo,
Glamour,
9 Nov. 2025
Verb
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An emergency order by the FAA on Thursday said airlines have to cut traffic by 4%, resulting in about 800 flight cancellations for Friday that increased to over 1,000 throughout the day, according to FlightAware.—
Emma Tucker,
CNN Money,
8 Nov. 2025
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Southwest Airlines cut about 120 flights Friday.—
JOSH FUNK,
Arkansas Online,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Tax rises would likely act as another damper on inflation by reducing consumer demand.—
Holly Ellyatt,
CNBC,
6 Nov. 2025
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Researchers also stressed that the synergistic effect of K+ and C3N4 co-intercalation lowers the energy barrier, reduces the electrostatic interaction, and enhances the kinetics and structural stability.—
Prabhat Ranjan Mishra,
Interesting Engineering,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
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To overcome the challenge, the scientists used state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms to sift through massive amounts of data, separating the elusive tWZ signal from background noise.—
Georgina Jedikovska,
Interesting Engineering,
4 Nov. 2025
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In Talisay city, survivors sift through the destruction, hoping to salvage what little remains.—
CNN Money,
CNN Money,
4 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Winnow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/winnow. Accessed 13 Nov. 2025.
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