Jump To:

• whittle
  whittle

  verb (used with object)

  to cut, trim, or shape (a stick, piece of wood, etc.) by carving off bits with a knife.
• Whittle
  Whittle

  noun

  Sir Frank, 1907–96, English engineer and inventor.

whittle

¹ American  

[hwit-l, wit-l] / ˈʰwɪt l, ˈwɪt l /

verb (used with object)

• whittles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• whittled,
  past participle,  past
• whittling
  present participle

1. to cut, trim, or shape (a stick, piece of wood, etc.) by carving off bits with a knife.

2. to form by whittling.

   to whittle a figure.

3. to cut off (a bit).

4. to reduce the amount of, as if by whittling; pare down; take away by degrees (usually followed by down, away, etc.).

   to whittle down the company's overhead; to whittle away one's inheritance.

---

verb (used without object)

• whittles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• whittled,
  past participle,  past
• whittling
  present participle

1. to whittle wood or the like with a knife, as in shaping something or as a mere aimless diversion.

   to spend an afternoon whittling.

2. to tire oneself or another by worrying or fussing.

noun

1. British Dialect. a knife, especially a large one, as a carving knife or a butcher knife.

Whittle ² American  

[hwit-l, wit-l] / ˈʰwɪt l, ˈwɪt l /

noun

1. Sir Frank, 1907–96, English engineer and inventor.

---

Whittle ¹ British  

/ ˈwɪtəl /

noun

1. Sir Frank. 1907–96, English engineer, who invented the jet engine for aircraft; flew first British jet aircraft (1941)

---

whittle ² British  

/ ˈwɪtəl /

verb

1. to cut or shave strips or pieces from (wood, a stick, etc), esp with a knife

2. (tr) to make or shape by paring or shaving

3. (tr; often foll by away, down, off, etc) to reduce, destroy, or wear away gradually

4. dialect (intr) to complain or worry about something continually

---

noun

1. dialect a knife, esp a large one

Whittle Scientific  

/ wĭt′l /

1. British aeronautical engineer and inventor who developed the first aircraft engine powered by jet propulsion in 1937.

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• whittler
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• whittling
  present
• whittled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• whittle
  simple
• whittles
  simple
• have whittled
  perfect
• has whittled
  perfect
• am whittling
  progressive
• are whittling
  progressive
• is whittling
  progressive
• have been whittling
  perfect progressive
• has been whittling
  perfect progressive

Past

• whittled
  simple
• had whittled
  perfect
• was whittling
  progressive
• were whittling
  progressive
• had been whittling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will whittle
  simple
• will have whittled
  perfect
• will be whittling
  progressive
• will have been whittling
  perfect progressive

---

Etymology

Origin of whittle

1375–1425; late Middle English (noun), dialectal variant of thwitel knife, Old English thwīt ( an ) to cut + -el -le

---

Explanation

To whittle is to pare or carve away. Wood carvers whittle pieces of wood, removing bit by bit until what's left is a sailor with a yellow raincoat or a lone wolf howling at the moon. Whittle can also mean to reduce an amount or number of items. In this sense, it is commonly paired with the words away or down. A courtroom attorney might "whittle away" at a defendant's alibi until the truth emerges. You might "whittle down" a to-do list or "whittle away" at your student loan debt every month. But only a highly skilled wood carver can whittle a chunk of pine into that old salty dog with a yellow raincoat.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

whittle Whittle whittles whittled whittling

Once the club's data departments have the brief, filters that grade a player's overall ability are applied to whittle down the 650,000-man database to 20-50 names.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

For more than a decade, I’ve been teaching a course at the California Institute of the Arts called American Drama Now, and each year the selection of plays has become harder to whittle down.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

Builders had hoped to capitalize on a busy spring buying season to whittle down inventories, but it was disappointing.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026

Nonprofits are hoping for an influx of cash from the newly wealthy—not only those looking to whittle down tax bills but a new crop of donors with deeply held convictions about charitable giving.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026

Over the summer, when I was with Dad and Steph in Phoenix, he taught me how to whittle a spoon, a turtle, and a bear that ended up looking like a snowman.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

Whittle, who was born in Coventry and founded Power Jets in Rugby to build the aircraft engines he designed, before going on to continue his pioneering work in Gloucestershire, died 30 years ago this year.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

In a separate visit later in the day, the King opened the University of Cambridge's new £58m Whittle Laboratory.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

People struggling with cost of living and higher council taxes will rightly be shocked," said Whittle, noting Harrhy "was the second chief executive to leave Caerphilly with a "massive pay-off".

From BBC ● May 22, 2026

Plaid's candidate Lindsay Whittle was victorious after his party spent £46,933, while Reform UK, which came second, spent £96,125.

From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2026

"But I have been very useless during the past forty and odd," Mr. Whittle continued, looking at little Ben as though he were evidence of it.

From The Mystery of the Locks by Edgar Watson Howe

That’s because inflation whittles away at the real purchasing power of those future interest payments.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026

A newer House version whittles this down to 23 countries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2025

Then, executive producer Michaels whittles a pile of 40 or so sketches down to about 15 — maybe 10 that everyone agrees on, plus another five outliers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2025

This event often whittles down the primary field to a handful of candidates.

From Reuters ● Aug. 16, 2023

It whittles you down to lie up to fifty times in the space of the fifteen minutes or so it takes to do a “survey,” even when there’s a higher moral purpose to serve.

From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich

As federal officials have whittled down the countries that still qualify for Temporary Protected Status, Salvadorans make up the largest population of remaining beneficiaries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

After 72 matches across three countries, 48 teams who qualified for the 2026 World Cup have been whittled down to 32.

From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026

That marks the reversal of a 15-year period when company buybacks and mergers-and-acquisitions activity whittled down the actual number of shares out there to invest, giving stocks fuel to keep rising, said McElligott.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 11, 2026

Occidental has since whittled the debt down to $13.3 billion, nearing its target of $10 billion.

From Barron's ● May 29, 2026

When I picked it up, I saw the tip of it had been whittled sharp.

From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce

The storied conglomerate announced Saturday that after building a record cash holding of $397.4 billion at the end of the first quarter, it spent $31.9 billion, whittling those holdings down to $365.5 billion.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

Brands have cut weight by whittling away every gram.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026

What that does is test the creativity of Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman to devise ways to fortify the line and protect Herbert without whittling away too many offensive options.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2025

Billed as a fundraiser, the debt-ridden centre said the money from the portfolios would go towards whittling down a long list of overdue bills, including unpaid wages for educators.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2025

I grab the whittling book that Steph got me and thumb through it.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• diminish
• erode
• lessen
• pare
• shave
• trim

---