cull
Americanverb (used with object)
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to select and remove from a group, especially to discard or destroy as inferior.
When I cull the smaller curved saplings, I'm careful to protect and nurture the straighter and larger trees.
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to discard unwanted parts or remove choice parts from (a group).
Ranchers must decide whether to buy expensive feed or cull their herds to weather the drought.
- Synonyms:
- single out, cherry-pick
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Quotations are culled from a variety of literature, diaries and letters, local histories, journals, and newspapers.
noun
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the act of culling.
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something culled, especially something picked out and put aside as inferior.
verb
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to choose or gather the best or required examples
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to take out (an animal, esp an inferior one) from a herd
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to reduce the size of (a herd or flock) by killing a proportion of its members
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to gather (flowers, fruit, etc)
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to cease to employ; get rid of
noun
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the act or product of culling
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an inferior animal taken from a herd or group
Other Word Forms
- culler noun
- outcull verb (used with object)
- overcull verb (used with object)
Etymology
Origin of cull
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English coilen, cuilen, cullen, from Anglo-French, Old French coillir, cuillir, from Latin colligere “to gather”; collect 1
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.
In the wake of Sydney's recent flurry of shark attacks, heightened fears have reinvigorated calls for a cull.
From BBC • Jan. 23, 2026
Some of California’s most popular campuses, including the UCs and USC, do not use AI to cull applicants, and use only human readers and admissions staff.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 2, 2026
Hokkaido plans to cull 1,200 bears annually over the next decade.
From Barron's • Dec. 24, 2025
In Jonathan Miles’s “Eradication: A Fable,” a schoolteacher who has never held a gun in his life signs up to cull 3,000 invasive goats on a remote island.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
The old-timers wanted to see how we’d handle it, wanted to cull the faint of heart.
From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
