weed out

British  

verb

1. (tr, adverb) to separate out, remove, or eliminate (anything unwanted)

   to weed out troublesome students

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weed out Idioms  

1. Eliminate as inferior, unsuited, or unwanted, as in She was asked to weed out the unqualified applicants. This expression transfers removing weeds from a garden to removing unwanted elements from other enterprises. [First half of 1500s]

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Example Sentences

The new scheme "weeded out" those paid-for actions that were not delivering enough for the environment or food production and that it would "support food production not undermine it", she added.

From BBC

This later became Micro1, and his screening tool was used to track down, weed out and test all kinds of experts for training AI.

From Los Angeles Times

But they also warned broadly that 2026 could be the year the market begins to weed out many young application-layer AI startups.

From The Wall Street Journal

He said he’d like to give supervisors greater authority to quickly weed out complaints that “are demonstrably false on their face” based on body camera footage and other evidence.”

From Los Angeles Times

Informed’s agentic-AI software has been used by large lenders such as JPMorgan Chase’s Chase Auto group, GM Financial, Ally Financial and Capital One to vet borrowers and weed out fraud.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• cull
• derive
• distill
• elicit
• exact
• extort
• extricate
• glean
• obtain
• pluck
• pry
• pull
• reap
• separate
• siphon
• squeeze
• withdraw
• wrest
• wring