as in grinding
to make sharp or sharper
you need to sharpen your penknife's blade frequently in order to be able to whittle properly
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Recent Examples of sharpening
Mercury moves through your 1st House of Identity, sharpening your voice and making your words more direct than usual.
—
Tarot.com, New York Daily News, 1 May 2026
According to Plunge, cold-water immersion triggers norepinephrine, a chemical messenger that delivers a burst of energy while sharpening focus.
—Samantha Agate, Charlotte Observer, 30 Apr. 2026
In 2018, Ganni appointed Andrea Baldo as CEO, taking over from Nicolaj, and helped scale the label into an international business, growing its retail network and sharpening its brand identity.
—Maliha Shoaib, Vogue, 27 Apr. 2026
The result is a show that loses its center just when the stakes should be sharpening.
—Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 27 Apr. 2026
What emerges is a platform less interested in scale than in sharpening its own profile.
—Emiliano De Pablos, Variety, 23 Apr. 2026
Consumer goods companies are sharpening their focus and strategically reassessing their portfolios as former growth drivers cool, and consumers are increasingly selective amid rising living costs.
—Elsa Ohlen, CNBC, 23 Apr. 2026
Chris Ong, Seatrium’s CEO, sees the Iran conflict sharpening what specialists call the energy trilemma, or the trade-off between energy security, affordable supply, and environmental sustainability.
—Nicholas Gordon, Fortune, 23 Apr. 2026
As the clock counts down to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil, the factors separating Tullis-Joyce and Dickey are sharpening into focus.
—Tamerra Griffin, New York Times, 21 Apr. 2026
Tarot.com, New York Daily News, 1 May 2026
According to Plunge, cold-water immersion triggers norepinephrine, a chemical messenger that delivers a burst of energy while sharpening focus.
—Samantha Agate, Charlotte Observer, 30 Apr. 2026
In 2018, Ganni appointed Andrea Baldo as CEO, taking over from Nicolaj, and helped scale the label into an international business, growing its retail network and sharpening its brand identity.
—Maliha Shoaib, Vogue, 27 Apr. 2026
The result is a show that loses its center just when the stakes should be sharpening.
—Dave Quinn, PEOPLE, 27 Apr. 2026
What emerges is a platform less interested in scale than in sharpening its own profile.
—Emiliano De Pablos, Variety, 23 Apr. 2026
Consumer goods companies are sharpening their focus and strategically reassessing their portfolios as former growth drivers cool, and consumers are increasingly selective amid rising living costs.
—Elsa Ohlen, CNBC, 23 Apr. 2026
Chris Ong, Seatrium’s CEO, sees the Iran conflict sharpening what specialists call the energy trilemma, or the trade-off between energy security, affordable supply, and environmental sustainability.
—Nicholas Gordon, Fortune, 23 Apr. 2026
As the clock counts down to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil, the factors separating Tullis-Joyce and Dickey are sharpening into focus.
—Tamerra Griffin, New York Times, 21 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sharpening
Verb
-
Their experiments confirmed that adding a single squirt of water to coffee beans before grinding can significantly reduce the static electric charge on the resulting grounds.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
28 Apr. 2026
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This stock was a disaster from May 2025 through the November lows near $48, losing roughly half its value in a grinding downtrend.—
Josh Brown,Sean Russo,
CNBC,
27 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
Tech-art studio Rhizomatiks and Dentsu design experts, both based in Japan, continued honing the capabilities as underlying technology improved.—
Jacob Feldman,
Sportico.com,
25 Apr. 2026
-
The team is always honing their skills, and their training continues at least once a month.—
Ashley Portillo,
CBS News,
17 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Sharpening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sharpening. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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