winnow
Americanverb (used with object)
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winnows,
present (3rd person singular)
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winnowed,
past participle, past
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winnowing
present participle
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to free (grain) from the lighter particles of chaff, dirt, etc., especially by throwing it into the air and allowing the wind or a forced current of air to blow away impurities.
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to drive or blow (chaff, dirt, etc.) away by fanning.
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to blow upon; fan.
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to subject to some process of separating or distinguishing; analyze critically; sift.
to winnow a mass of statements.
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to separate or distinguish (valuable from worthless parts) (sometimes followed byout ).
to winnow falsehood from truth.
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to pursue (a course) with flapping wings in flying.
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to fan or stir (the air) as with the wings in flying.
verb (used without object)
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winnows,
present (3rd person singular)
-
winnowed,
past participle, past
-
winnowing
present participle
-
to free grain from chaff by wind or driven air.
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to fly with flapping wings; flutter.
noun
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a device or contrivance used for winnowing.
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an act of winnowing.
verb
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to separate (grain) from (chaff) by means of a wind or current of air
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(tr) to examine in order to select the desirable elements
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archaic (tr) to beat (the air) with wings
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rare (tr) to blow upon; fan
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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winnowsimple
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winnowssimple
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have winnowedperfect
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has winnowedperfect
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am winnowingprogressive
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are winnowingprogressive
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is winnowingprogressive
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have been winnowingperfect progressive
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has been winnowingperfect progressive
Past
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winnowedsimple
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had winnowedperfect
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was winnowingprogressive
-
were winnowingprogressive
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had been winnowingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of winnow
before 900; Middle English win ( d ) wen (v.), Old English windwian, derivative of wind wind 1
Explanation
To winnow is to blow something away until you are left with what you want, like grain from chaff. If you only want your favorite people to attend your party, you will need to winnow down the guest list from 300 to 30. To winnow is to use air to “separate the wheat from the chaff" — literally or figuratively. If a coach winnows down the top NBA draft picks to his number one choice, then he'll focus his negotiations on that player. Chances are, if you encounter the word winnow on a given day, it is probably not in the literal context of grain.
Vocabulary lists containing winnow
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Mythology
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As the job market cools, they are both raising the bar for entry-level jobs and seeking more consistent criteria to winnow the candidate pool.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
So Zaslav has a more focused media group via Streaming & Studios, but leaving HBO Max in his hands will inevitably winnow down its once rich library even further.
From Slate ● Jun. 10, 2025
If she does enter the contest, the move is expected to winnow the field because of her national profile, fundraising ability and her multiple successful statewide campaigns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2025
As the number of participating countries expanded over the decades, the E.B.U. set up two semifinals to winnow the field; the first took place on Tuesday, and the second happens Thursday.
From New York Times ● May 9, 2024
Then, we came and gathered up what remained of the paddy and took it away to thresh and winnow.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
Then the RNA winnows the contending olfactory-receptor genes down to one.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 2023
It progressively winnows out starlight, and stacks frame after frame to allow any faint planetary light to accumulate and eventually be seen.
From Scientific American ● Feb. 10, 2021
Rendell said he would prefer a model in which the primary season begins with four conventional debates, followed by six issue forums as the field winnows.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 11, 2019
Evolution is blind and evolutionary progress is a misnomer; natural selection carves and winnows according to the ever-changing status quo.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2019
It winnows through the stones as we watch, bubbling into the undeserving earth.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
But oddly enough, the unprecedented computing power now pointed at chess hasn’t winnowed the number of strong moves—it has actually expanded them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
What’s the point of watching a game that can be winnowed down to a series of inputs and outputs?
From Salon ● Apr. 13, 2026
Per the Hollywood Reporter, Merit’s measly weekly viewer numbers soon winnowed down further, to 17,000.
From Slate ● Oct. 14, 2025
In just three weeks, 68 of the best college teams are winnowed down to one champion.
From BBC ● Apr. 5, 2024
Those invaders get winnowed by natural selection, and only a few of them succeed in establishing themselves as human diseases.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
While most of that came from leaving foreign markets, the winnowing has also reached Whirlpool’s refrigerator plant in Amana, Iowa, which has gone from about 3,000 jobs to 650.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
Maybe at peak valuations these stocks were trading on a price-earnings multiples of 30-40 times, Lapping observes, but not after the winnowing caused by AI fears:
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026
The winnowing of victims has been the result of byzantine legal procedures, strict vetting and tightened eligibility rules, which victims told ProPublica and the Inquirer took them by surprise.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
Ask DePetro why someone might prefer his content to the nightly news, and he’ll gesture toward the rapidly winnowing media industry.
From Slate ● Feb. 23, 2026
Everybody knew it was his mother, Kate, who saved him from affliction and the early winnowing that is every plantation slave’s first trial.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
