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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Recent Examples of winnowing
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
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
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
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for winnowing
Verb
-
Germany banned chick culling back in 2022, even before commercially viable in-ovo sexing machines existed.
-
Last year, CargoWise and E2Open parent WiseTech Global announced a nearly 30 percent culling of its staff through 2027, overtly tying the job cuts to its deployments of AI technologies.
Verb
-
Crews are focusing on the 15 feet along the roadsides, trimming trees that are still alive to help prevent fire from laddering into the crowns and removing dead trees.
-
While some varieties will rebloom without deadheading, trimming fading flowers keeps the flower bed from looking tired.
Verb
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The interim agreement to end the Iran war has already reopened the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran effectively closed, cutting the global economy off from significant supplies of oil and natural gas.
-
But after the cost-cutting trade of Jonathan Greenard to Philadelphia, the depth chart for the edge rusher spots is thin.
Verb
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Some institutions, like the University of Arizona, are intentionally lowering class sizes to improve academic performance and graduation rates, while reducing scholarship expenses and national recruitment burdens.
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Norway's smartphone ban has already yielded results, according to some studies, including increasing students' GPAs and reducing trips to mental health professionals, particularly among female students.
Verb
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In Europe, shares also fell sharply as the pan-European Stoxx 600 shed around 1%, paring earlier deeper losses by the afternoon.
-
More and more people are solving that exact problem by paring down instead of piling on.
Cite this Entry
“Winnowing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/winnowing. Accessed 28 Jun. 2026.
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