as in culled
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 winnowed
The pool was winnowed to 480 people who were invited to try out, with 80 ultimately chosen as new members.
—
Sofia Chierchio, Forbes.com, 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
During his first five-year contract, Bennett, his staff and the board winnowed down the company’s budget to better match annual expenses and ticket sales, while also creating the Detour series of smaller, nontraditional opera works to expand the company’s audience.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Aug. 2025
Despite industry-wide budget cuts and a shortage of doc distributors for nonfiction social issue fare, Powers winnowed the list of 23 docs from over 1,000 submissions.
—Addie Morfoot, Variety, 6 Aug. 2025
Sofia Chierchio, Forbes.com, 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
During his first five-year contract, Bennett, his staff and the board winnowed down the company’s budget to better match annual expenses and ticket sales, while also creating the Detour series of smaller, nontraditional opera works to expand the company’s audience.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Aug. 2025
Despite industry-wide budget cuts and a shortage of doc distributors for nonfiction social issue fare, Powers winnowed the list of 23 docs from over 1,000 submissions.
—Addie Morfoot, Variety, 6 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for winnowed
Verb
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His staff, culled from a hodgepodge of local law-enforcement groups, is green.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
28 Aug. 2025
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today revealed 14 winners of its 2025 Student Academy Awards competition, culled from more than 3,100 entries spanning 988 colleges and universities around the world.—
Erik Pedersen,
Deadline,
27 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Richland trimmed the deficit with a focus on the ground game, as Kates and Gibson ran the ball right through the Panthers’ defense while playing up-tempo.—
Jordan Neal,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
6 Sep. 2025
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Earlier in 2024, Fox News trimmed a portion of his answer to a question when he was asked about declassifying files related to Jeffrey Epstein.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
5 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Initially lined up outside, Chiefs defensive end Chris Jones quickly cut inside to beat the right tackle.—
Pete Sweeney,
Kansas City Star,
6 Sep. 2025
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On the northeast of the fire, by Sugar Pine Mountain, crews worked in steep, inaccessible terrain to bring containment lines into the natural rock bluff, trying to cut the fire off south of the Wishon Reservoir for the protection of the critical hydroelectric infrastructure.—
CA WILDFIRE BOT,
Sacbee.com,
6 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Once its largest shareholder with a 40% stake, Lefkofsky stepped down from an active leadership role at Groupon in 2015 and has since pared his holdings to just under 10%.—
Robert Channick,
Chicago Tribune,
3 Sep. 2025
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Stocks were lower Friday morning but pared some losses after the data release.—
Alicia Wallace,
CNN Money,
29 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Citing economic pressures, the museum reduced its staff earlier this year, with a total of eight positions affected either by layoffs or a reduction in pay and benefits.—
Jim Higgins,
jsonline.com,
5 Sep. 2025
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Dementia risk could be dramatically reduced with one common health intervention, a study finds.—
Staff,
FOXNews.com,
5 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Winnowed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/winnowed. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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