whittle down
phrasal verb
whittled down; whittling down; whittles down
: to gradually make (something) smaller by removing parts
We whittled the list down to four people.
Examples of whittle down in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
That’s when 18 wannabe winners will be slowly whittled down to just one.
—
Dalton Ross, EW.com, 29 Jan. 2025
Since then, aggressive fundraising efforts with help from survivors, combined with $350 million from the Department of Justice, have whittled down that backlog significantly.
—Sheila McClear, The Atlantic, 16 Jan. 2025
The result was two hundred and twenty-two hours of footage, eventually whittled down into a nearly three-hour film.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
How to whittle down the best Zoë Kravitz movies and TV shows?
—Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 7 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for whittle down
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Dalton Ross, EW.com, 29 Jan. 2025
Since then, aggressive fundraising efforts with help from survivors, combined with $350 million from the Department of Justice, have whittled down that backlog significantly.
—Sheila McClear, The Atlantic, 16 Jan. 2025
The result was two hundred and twenty-two hours of footage, eventually whittled down into a nearly three-hour film.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
How to whittle down the best Zoë Kravitz movies and TV shows?
—Elizabeth Logan, Glamour, 7 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for whittle down
Cite this Entry
“Whittle down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whittle%20down. Accessed 26 Feb. 2025.
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