as in to cut
to cause to diminish gradually by or as if by cutting off bits with a knife
He was sitting on the porch, whittling a stick.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of whittle
As the tournament begins with the First Four on Tuesday night to whittle the pool down to 64 teams, Brunson knows talk in the locker room will start to heat up about the tournament.
—
Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 17 Mar. 2026
Dayton whittled the deficit to 10 early in the second half, but Belle buried a 3-pointer and Hill hit a pull-up jumper for a 48-33 lead with 15 minutes remaining.
—ABC News, 15 Mar. 2026
The Tigers whittled one of those UK leads down to five points with just over 10 minutes left.
—Kansas City Star, 12 Mar. 2026
After trailing 75-50 in the third quarter, the Spurs whittled the margin to 11 points by the end of the period and opened the fourth with an 18-5 run to take their first lead since the opening minutes.
—Oc Register, 7 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for whittle
Scott Thompson, FOXNews.com, 17 Mar. 2026
Dayton whittled the deficit to 10 early in the second half, but Belle buried a 3-pointer and Hill hit a pull-up jumper for a 48-33 lead with 15 minutes remaining.
—ABC News, 15 Mar. 2026
The Tigers whittled one of those UK leads down to five points with just over 10 minutes left.
—Kansas City Star, 12 Mar. 2026
After trailing 75-50 in the third quarter, the Spurs whittled the margin to 11 points by the end of the period and opened the fourth with an 18-5 run to take their first lead since the opening minutes.
—Oc Register, 7 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for whittle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for whittle
Verb
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At the same time, Bass has proposed cutting entirely the Animal Services Department’s annual budget for food, which was $200,000 last year, and also slashing the medical supplies budget to $49,000, from $388,000 last year.—
Sandra McDonald,
Los Angeles Times,
1 May 2026
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But now that the post-pandemic boom has well and truly gone bust, just showing up with a great looking timepiece isn’t going to cut it.—
Lily Templeton,
Footwear News,
1 May 2026
Verb
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It was not known which way Woods was leaning before his SUV clipped the back of a trailer being pulled by a pickup truck on a residential road in Florida, turning his vehicle on its side.—
Doug Ferguson,
Chicago Tribune,
24 Apr. 2026
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It was not known which way Woods was leaning when his SUV clipped the back of a trailer being pulled by a pickup truck on a residential road in Florida, turning his SUV on its side.—
Ryan Morik,
FOXNews.com,
24 Apr. 2026
Verb
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The expected tariff refund helped push the company’s stock up 6% in pre-market trading, before paring back gains.—
Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez,
Fortune,
28 Apr. 2026
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Decisions of how Brazzell fits into this receiver room — which has 10 players on its official roster and will likely have to be pared down to five or six by August’s final cuts — are months away.—
Alex Zietlow,
Charlotte Observer,
28 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Four of the seven matches went to Super Tiebreakers, and Cypress Bay had to dig out of a 2-0 hole after dropping their two singles matches.—
Gary Curreri,
Sun Sentinel,
2 May 2026
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The stock has dropped 23% so far this year, reversing course after a climb of just over 64% in 2025.—
Alex Harring,
CNBC,
2 May 2026
Verb
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With the Strait of Hormuz handling nearly a third of global fertilizer trade, its closure will curtail access and ratchet up costs for many African farmers, especially in East Africa, which is especially reliant on the Gulf.—
Judd Devermont,
semafor.com,
27 Apr. 2026
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Comments can be revealing, especially in societies that are closed and authoritarian in nature where media access to public information is limited by draconian laws and freedom of expression curtailed.—
Shepherd Mpofu,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
27 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Whittle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/whittle. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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