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
But even bad songs are tough to whittle into a list and culling some of the worst offenders is highly subjective.
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Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today, 4 Dec. 2025
Kyiv and its European allies hastily amended that plan, whittling it down to 19 proposals, with Ukrainian officials travelling to Florida last weekend for more talks on the proposals.
—Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 3 Dec. 2025
The Horned Frogs saw a double-digit-point lead whittled to just four by intermission, thanks to the 3-point shooting of John Blackwell — who scored 30 points on Friday — and savvy playmaking by former San Diego State guard Nick Boyd.
—Kyle Kensing, San Diego Union-Tribune, 29 Nov. 2025
Born in 1970 in Herber City, Utah, Allen is largely self-taught, having begun his artistic career by whittling figures and selling them from atop an ironing board on the streets of SoHo in New York.
—News Desk, Artforum, 24 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for whittle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whittle
Verb
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Carolina cut the lead 17-14 at halftime after a 1-yard touchdown run by Hubbard and a 16-yard scramble by Young, the second-longest TD run of his career.—
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This same staff cut him to make room for a waiver-wire claim before the start of the 2024 season.—
Verb
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Earlier in the night, Alisha Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov defended their pairs title despite a couple of mistakes, including a scary moment when Mitrofanov was nearly clipped by Efimova’s skate.—
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Late in the first, Hartman clipped former Gophers captain Ben Meyers in the Seattle offensive zone, and was whistled for tripping.—
Verb
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Renk and Leonardo initially led the pan-European Stoxx 600 index, moving more than 4% higher, but pared gains through the session.—
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Trump’s edict was light on details — and the shares pared those losses in later trading — but the message was sent.—
Verb
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Originally born in Colorado and raised in Colorado Springs, Good had just dropped her 6-year-old son off at school before being killed, according to the Associated Press.—
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The best way to protect yourself during an earthquake is to drop, cover and hold on, officials say.—
Verb
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This production, directed by David Cromer and co-starring Namir Smallwood, also ran twice at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago (with the first run curtailed by the pandemic) before moving to Broadway.—
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In virtually all cases outside of Detroit, newspapers concluded their partnerships with mergers, one partner shuttering its operations or the smaller paper dramatically curtailing operations.—
Cite this Entry
“Whittle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whittle. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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