culled; culling; culls
1
: to select from a group : choose
culled the best passages from the poet's work
Damaged fruits are culled before the produce is shipped.
2
: to reduce or control the size of (something, such as a herd) by removal (as by hunting or slaughter) of especially weak or sick individuals
The town issued hunting licenses in order to cull the deer population.
culling a herd of cattle
also
: to hunt or kill (individuals) for culling
culling diseased cows
culled hundreds of deer
culler
noun
: something rejected especially as being inferior or worthless
… how to separate good-looking pecans from culls.—
The Washington Post
The Washington PostExamples of cull in a Sentence
Verb
He culls his herd annually.
The town issued hunting licenses in order to cull the deer population.
Noun
the unbruised apples will be packed in bags, and the culls will be used for cider
Recent Examples on the Web
Greg Iacurci, CNBC, 7 Mar. 2025
Advertisement One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not been made public, said the purge could delete as many as 100,000 images or posts in total, when considering social media pages and other websites that are also being culled for DEI content.
—Tara Copp, TIME, 6 Mar. 2025
Varad Mehta, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 7 Mar. 2025
Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, due out November 4 via Liveright / W. W. Norton and Allen Lane / Penguin Press, culls from dozens of hours of interviews of McCartney, his Wings band mates, and other people in the group’s orbit.
—Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 26 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cull
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Verb
The Trump administration has hit recent road blocks in its attempts to cull federal jobs.
—Greg Iacurci, CNBC, 7 Mar. 2025
Advertisement One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not been made public, said the purge could delete as many as 100,000 images or posts in total, when considering social media pages and other websites that are also being culled for DEI content.
—Tara Copp, TIME, 6 Mar. 2025
Noun
Further culls within the executive branch are likely.
—Varad Mehta, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 7 Mar. 2025
Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, due out November 4 via Liveright / W. W. Norton and Allen Lane / Penguin Press, culls from dozens of hours of interviews of McCartney, his Wings band mates, and other people in the group’s orbit.
—Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone, 26 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cull
Cite this Entry
“Cull.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cull. Accessed 12 Mar. 2025.
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