Used to describe an ongoing action or state that is currently taking place in the immediate present.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“At the sacred threshing-floor, when they are winnowing, she herself, Demeter of the corn-ripe yellow hair, divides the grain and the chaff in the rush of the wind, and the heap of chaff grows white.”
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
The older women are winnowing grain and grinding at the metate.
From The Arrow-Maker A Drama in Three Acts by Mary Hunter Austin
"Even as a wind carrieth the chaff about the sacred threshing-floors when men are winnowing, what time golden Demeter, in rush of wind, maketh division of grain and chaff."
From Myth, Ritual And Religion, Vol. 2 (of 2) by Andrew Lang
They are winnowing almost everywhere today," explained Aunt Rose, "taking advantage of the good weather.
From With Those Who Wait by Frances Wilson Huard
At a door, that has been broken through the massive stonework where it was meant to be strongest, some contadini are winnowing grain.
From The Marble Faun - Volume 2 The Romance of Monte Beni by Nathaniel Hawthorne
