honed; honing
1
: to sharpen or smooth with a whetstone
2
: to make more acute, intense, or effective : whet
… helped her hone her comic timing …—
Patricia Bosworth
Patricia Bosworth
honer
noun
honed; honing
Examples of hone in a Sentence
Verb (1)
honed the knife's blade to razor-like sharpness
honed his crossword-puzzle skills by reading the dictionary as though it were a thrilling novel
honed the edge of the axe until it was amazingly sharp
Recent Examples on the Web
Jesse Raub, Bon Appetit Magazine, 1 May 2026
But Highsmith hones the drama by putting us in Chester’s head.
—Literary Hub, 1 May 2026
Children ages 4-13 can hone their lightsaber skills and sip on non-alcoholic teal lemonade.
—Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 30 Apr. 2026
As founder of Celera Genomics in 1998, Venter honed his method of decoding—whole-genome shotgun sequencing—which can rapidly sequence different parts of the genome at the same time and then uses machine learning to reassemble them in the right order.
—Claire Cameron, Scientific American, 30 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hone
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Verb
This was another knife with a slightly less sharp factory edge that needed several passes on a honing rod.
—Jesse Raub, Bon Appetit Magazine, 1 May 2026
But Highsmith hones the drama by putting us in Chester’s head.
—Literary Hub, 1 May 2026
Children ages 4-13 can hone their lightsaber skills and sip on non-alcoholic teal lemonade.
—Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 30 Apr. 2026
As founder of Celera Genomics in 1998, Venter honed his method of decoding—whole-genome shotgun sequencing—which can rapidly sequence different parts of the genome at the same time and then uses machine learning to reassemble them in the right order.
—Claire Cameron, Scientific American, 30 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hone
Cite this Entry
“Hone.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hone. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
