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
Bond market jitters Of particular concern, according to analysts, is how a potentially very different parliament would affect France’s ability to whittle down its huge government debt burden, which stood at 110.6% of gross domestic product at the end of last year.
—
Anna Cooban, CNN, 10 June 2024
Subsequent governments in New Delhi, including those of Nehru, effectively whittled down the provisions of Article 370, applying various elements of the Indian constitution to Jammu and Kashmir.
—Sumit Ganguly, Foreign Affairs, 8 Aug. 2019
The campaign supporting Logan comes as the candidate field has been whittled down this spring to him and two longtime firefighters from outside the department.
—David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2024
Over the next 2:21, Century continued to whittle down the lead, eventually getting a Tommy Dixon layup to cut the margin to 45-44 with 2:21 left.
—Mike Frainie, Baltimore Sun, 17 Feb. 2024
The vast majority of those named on the witness list – which is used to help attorneys and the court whittle down the jury pool – will not be called to testify.
—Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 15 May 2024
Some guests had to make subsequent attempts to visit but found that wait times this week had whittled down to 20 to 40 minutes since the first Saturday of business.
—Stephanie Breijo, Los Angeles Times, 13 May 2024
Forbes used 2022 admissions data, and then screened schools with high standardized test scores to whittle down a list of 1,743 colleges of at least 4,000 students to create its top 10 list.
—Alex Groth, Journal Sentinel, 8 May 2024
The remaining people were whittled down through questioning from lawyers and Merchan.
—Graham Kates, CBS News, 18 Apr. 2024
Anna Cooban, CNN, 10 June 2024
Subsequent governments in New Delhi, including those of Nehru, effectively whittled down the provisions of Article 370, applying various elements of the Indian constitution to Jammu and Kashmir.
—Sumit Ganguly, Foreign Affairs, 8 Aug. 2019
The campaign supporting Logan comes as the candidate field has been whittled down this spring to him and two longtime firefighters from outside the department.
—David Garrick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2024
Over the next 2:21, Century continued to whittle down the lead, eventually getting a Tommy Dixon layup to cut the margin to 45-44 with 2:21 left.
—Mike Frainie, Baltimore Sun, 17 Feb. 2024
The vast majority of those named on the witness list – which is used to help attorneys and the court whittle down the jury pool – will not be called to testify.
—Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 15 May 2024
Some guests had to make subsequent attempts to visit but found that wait times this week had whittled down to 20 to 40 minutes since the first Saturday of business.
—Stephanie Breijo, Los Angeles Times, 13 May 2024
Forbes used 2022 admissions data, and then screened schools with high standardized test scores to whittle down a list of 1,743 colleges of at least 4,000 students to create its top 10 list.
—Alex Groth, Journal Sentinel, 8 May 2024
The remaining people were whittled down through questioning from lawyers and Merchan.
—Graham Kates, CBS News, 18 Apr. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'whittle down.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Whittle down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whittle%20down. Accessed 16 Jun. 2024.
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