as in to cut
to cause to diminish gradually by or as if by cutting off bits with a knife
He was sitting on the porch, whittling a stick.
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Recent Examples of whittle
By the end of December, the PEO staff had whittled the list down to 13 companies.
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Tom Davenport, Forbes, 2 Dec. 2024
Fans voting will whittle the list to 10 beginning next week, with winners in that and all categories to be announced at an awards ceremony January 9 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem.
—Patrick Hipes, Deadline, 24 Oct. 2024
But the two-day sell-off has whittled the value of that stake to about $4 billion, based on Thursday's closing price.
—Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 31 Oct. 2024
The shortlists will be whittled to a list of 10 nominees each for features and shorts, with that announcement expected on November 19.
—Matthew Carey, Deadline, 24 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for whittle 
Tom Davenport, Forbes, 2 Dec. 2024
Fans voting will whittle the list to 10 beginning next week, with winners in that and all categories to be announced at an awards ceremony January 9 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem.
—Patrick Hipes, Deadline, 24 Oct. 2024
But the two-day sell-off has whittled the value of that stake to about $4 billion, based on Thursday's closing price.
—Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 31 Oct. 2024
The shortlists will be whittled to a list of 10 nominees each for features and shorts, with that announcement expected on November 19.
—Matthew Carey, Deadline, 24 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for whittle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whittle
Verb
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Nordstrom announced plans last year to shutter its Canadian operations, closing all stores in the country and cutting 2,500 jobs.Josh Hammer, Newsweek, 24 Dec. 2024
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Then it’s rinsed, milled, aerated, and finally passed through a machine that cuts the resulting masa dough into perfect tortillas and griddles them.Kristen V. Brown, The Atlantic, 23 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Incoming Falling Back Under North Korean Assault, A Ukrainian Brigade Turned A River Into A Natural Barrier FBI Warns Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail Users—Check 3 Things To Stop Attacks Fallacy #3: The owner can just clip coupons.Joshua Stein, Forbes, 19 Dec. 2024
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The next storm will clip far northwest Washington on Thursday night, with the third atmospheric river hitting the West Coast from the San Francisco Bay area northward through Washington on Sunday night into Monday.Dan Perry, Newsweek, 17 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Investors pared back BoE rate cut bets to fully price in just two quarter-point cuts in borrowing costs between now and the end of 2025.Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 17 Dec. 2024
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Opt for a small kitchen island with clean lines that’s pared down.Rachel Davies, Architectural Digest, 17 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Trust among Republicans over that time period dropped much more precipitously, from 70% to 40%, while roughly 80% of Democrats expressed trust in national news sources.James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, 15 Dec. 2024
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The driver picked up the 13-year-old later that night and dropped her off at a large white house, where she was met by two men who asked her to a sign a document before going inside, the suit alleges.Juliana Kim, NPR, 14 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Other necessary actions would include reducing malign economic influence, curtailing their global trade, and tightening what would likely be a robust set of sanctions.Daniel R. Green, Baltimore Sun, 15 Dec. 2024
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Education Challenges: Thousands of schools in Syria have been damaged or destroyed, drastically curtailing education services for millions of children in Syria.Maryanne Murray Buechner, Forbes, 12 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near whittle
Cite this Entry
“Whittle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whittle. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.
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