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

“ET” has long been culling the archives for the career retrospectives that air on weekends under the title “ET Vault Unlocked,” which are also available on demand through YouTube.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 23, 2026

This wasn’t a major housecleaning but more like a culling of online subscriptions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 2, 2026

Conféderation Rurale and Conféderation Paysanne say the policy is being brutally applied, and is in any case unnecessary because a combination of selective culling and vaccination would suffice.

From BBC • Dec. 12, 2025

"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 • Nov. 8, 2025

There Call, his hands in heavy rubber gloves, would cull, using a culling hammer.

From "Jacob Have I Loved" by Katherine Paterson

Related Words

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