culling

[kuhl-ing]

noun

1. the act or process of selecting and removing desirable or undesirable individuals from a group.

   Reducing farm exposure to the bacteria will require more rigorous testing and culling of infected animals.

2. the process of gathering or collecting.

   To realize progress through the transfer of ideas, an informed culling of content and the extension of a shared knowledge base are essential.

3. the group of things resulting from either of these processes.

   The collection War in Context provides a crucial culling of stories that I would surely have missed had I not read it.

Word History and Origins

Origin of culling¹

cull ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

Now, timber interests are aligning with environmentalists in favor of culling the owls.

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Significantly culling the federal workforce has been a long-term priority for Vought.

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They called for more humane solutions like vaccination and neutering and warned that putting all strays in shelters would lead to problems like overcrowding and culling.

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It recommends limiting development, taking steps to reduce wildfire risk like culling invasive grasses and introducing Joshua trees with genetic variations that make them more resilient to warming temperatures.

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There has been some success with the Australian government's crown-of-thorns starfish culling programme, which has killed over 50,000 starfish by injecting them with vinegar or ox bile.

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Related Words

• choice 
• collection 
• draft 
• election 
• excerpt 
• option 
• pick