culling

American  

[kuhl-ing] / ˈkʌl ɪŋ /

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.

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Etymology

Origin of culling

cull ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

One infection was detected on his farm, leading to the preventive culling of 700 sheep.

From BBC

"Thorough culling" to reduce the number of bears is the only effective way to reduce the risk for local people, researcher Ohnishi said.

From Barron's

“Doing this rapid culling of your workforce, it’s very risky,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal

Avian flu has spread globally in recent years, leading to mass culling of poultry, some human deaths, and rising egg prices.

From Barron's

“Isabelle,” he said, “this is just its subtle way of culling the human population.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

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