as in debris
discarded or useless material
there's a lot of chaff in this book, and the reader should be on the alert for it
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in laugh
good-natured teasing or exchanging of clever remarks
I got no end of chaff about my accent when I was in the military
Synonyms & Similar Words
1
2
as in to joke
to make jokes
a coworker who likes to chaff at others' expense, and this often results in hurt feelings
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of chaff
Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 2026
Eventually, at the supercomputer facilities of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Germany, algorithms designed to spot RFI sorted the wheat from the chaff, reducing those 12 billion to 1 million, then 1,000.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 15 Jan. 2026
Archaeobotanists find various parts of plants, including seeds, chaff, fruit pits, nutshells and cobs.
—Alexandria Mitchem Hansen, The Conversation, 19 Dec. 2025
For the rest of us, this is where the wheat and the chaff separate.
—Bo Howard, Rolling Stone, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for chaff
Noun
That makes the task of sorting wheat from chaff much more time-consuming for editors and referees, and also more technically difficult.
—Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 2026
Eventually, at the supercomputer facilities of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Germany, algorithms designed to spot RFI sorted the wheat from the chaff, reducing those 12 billion to 1 million, then 1,000.
—Keith Cooper, Space.com, 15 Jan. 2026
Archaeobotanists find various parts of plants, including seeds, chaff, fruit pits, nutshells and cobs.
—Alexandria Mitchem Hansen, The Conversation, 19 Dec. 2025
For the rest of us, this is where the wheat and the chaff separate.
—Bo Howard, Rolling Stone, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for chaff
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chaff
Verb
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Muller also indicated there were even more crimes — but only teased the details in his letters.—
Lauren Clark,
CBS News,
29 Mar. 2026
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The president has teased an endorsement, but hasn’t announced his preferred candidate.—
Eleanor Dearman,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
29 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The site joked that Tom Hiddleston would play the franchise’s first Bond boy and Gillian Anderson would be the new M in the Amazon film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight — the last two of whom are genuinely attached to the 26th Bond movie.—
Leigh Blickley,
Entertainment Weekly,
1 Apr. 2026
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The unusual survival of the snack soon sparked reactions online, with many commentators joking about the resilience of the popular cheese puffs.—
Claire Dodds,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Apr. 2026
Verb
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As previously mentioned, Meevee targets a preschool audience — specifically kids two to six — pretty much the only ages parents can (and should) be in sole control of their children’s screen time anyway.—
Tony Maglio,
HollywoodReporter,
1 Apr. 2026
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And don’t kid yourself, this is a huge deal.—
Mike Bianchi,
The Orlando Sentinel,
31 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Arrange pork chops on top of vegetables and continue to roast until pork registers 145 degrees and vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through roasting.—
Cathy Thomas,
Oc Register,
30 Mar. 2026
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Saturday’s second episode, for which ratings dipped slightly, featured a cold open roasting the former Prince Andrew and was ably steered by host Jamie Dornan, who appeared in sketches including a horror comedy about Jools Holland.—
Max Goldbart,
Deadline,
30 Mar. 2026
Verb
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Don't let some cloudy skies fool you.—
Brian Smith,
Des Moines Register,
25 Mar. 2026
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But don’t let its stillness in the videos fool you.—
Andrés Muedano,
JSTOR Daily,
25 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Chaff.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chaff. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
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