WINNOWING Synonyms: 122 Similar and Opposite Words

winnowing

verb

present participle of winnow

as in culling

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 winnowing Iowa’s legislative funnel deadline has done its job again, winnowing the list of bills that still could become laws this year. —

Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register, 20 Mar. 2026 The club is winnowing down its pitching options. —

Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News, 9 Mar. 2026 Is the only pleasure in her winnowing life to be denied? —

Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 17 Feb. 2026 The fewer skiing trails and snow resorts that exist around the world, the more expensive and inaccessible these sports will become, winnowing the potential pool of future Olympians further. —

Laura Millan, Bloomberg, 4 Feb. 2026 All that standing and walking and winnowing down culminated with Tuesday night’s best in show event. —

Poupay Jutharat, Vogue, 4 Feb. 2026 As in baseball, the awards race may be winnowing to the two true outcomes — a world where Best Picture nominees are either a huge Hollywood blockbuster or a foreign-language film from Cannes. —

Nate Jones, Vulture, 19 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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for winnowing

Verb

Mandarin Oriental is culling a portfolio of Exceptional Homes, which, while not necessarily linked to hotels, are appointed with amenities expected of the luxury brand.

— Maya Kachroo-Levine, Travel + Leisure, 8 May 2026
The story has been decades in the making as the Colombian government tried multiple nonfatal methods of culling the hippo population, including neutering and relocating.

— Carlie Procell, USA Today, 25 Apr. 2026