Synonyms of winnowing

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.

Related Words

• culling
• trimming
• cutting
• sifting
• reducing
• paring
• discarding
• filtering
• slashing
• jettisoning
• condensing
• shortening
• rejecting
• refusing
• pruning
• cropping
• shrinking
• spurning
• declining
• curtailing
• throwing away
• downsizing
• turning down
• truncating
• clipping
• retrenching
• decreasing
• cutting down
• throwing out
• lowering
• repudiating
• clearing
• abridging
• compressing
• lessening
• dwindling
• disapproving
• depleting
• nicking
• easing
• abbreviating
• denting
• whittling (down)
• cutting back
• negativing
• contracting
• downscaling
• docking
• minimizing
• sieving
• knocking down
• modifying
• constricting
• moderating
• processing
• dropping
• abating
• deflating
• modulating
• screening
• purifying
• refining
• fining
• qualifying
• distilling
• de-escalating
• clarifying
• bolting
• rectifying
• garbling

Dissimilar Words

• selecting
• picking
• culling
• choosing
• taking
• electing
• naming
• preferring
• marking
• tagging
• tapping
• setting
• nominating
• appointing
• adopting
• fixing
• designating
• accepting
• singling (out)
• handpicking
• embracing
• opting (for)
• swelling
• espousing
• preselecting
• extending
• settling (on or upon)
• cherry-picking
• inflating
• lengthening
• prolonging
• adding (to)
• tabbing
• dilating
• increasing
• elongating
• supplementing
• intensifying
• blowing up
• enhancing
• complementing
• expanding
• distending
• raising
• enlarging
• heightening
• augmenting
• amplifying
• protracting
• escalating
• boosting
• redoubling
• aggrandizing

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of winnowing

With 21 applicants to choose from, the Miami-Dade School Board kicked off the process of winnowing down that field to select a new superintendent at a special meeting Wednesday. — Austin Horn june 25, Miami Herald, 25 June 2026

Even in the face of Comcast’s subscriber-winnowing move to shift NESN to its pricier service tier, the network’s ratings continue to grow. — Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 12 June 2026

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

All that standing and walking and winnowing down culminated with Tuesday night’s best in show event. — Poupay Jutharat, Vogue, 4 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

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