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• whittle
  whittle

  verb (used with object)

  to cut, trim, or shape (a stick, piece of wood, etc.) by carving off bits with a knife.
• Whittle
  Whittle

  noun

  Sir Frank, 1907–96, English engineer and inventor.

whittle

¹ American  

[hwit-l, wit-l] / ˈʰwɪt l, ˈwɪt l /

verb (used with object)

• whittles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• whittled,
  past participle,  past
• whittling
  present participle

1. to cut, trim, or shape (a stick, piece of wood, etc.) by carving off bits with a knife.

2. to form by whittling.

   to whittle a figure.

3. to cut off (a bit).

4. to reduce the amount of, as if by whittling; pare down; take away by degrees (usually followed by down, away, etc.).

   to whittle down the company's overhead; to whittle away one's inheritance.

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verb (used without object)

• whittles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• whittled,
  past participle,  past
• whittling
  present participle

1. to whittle wood or the like with a knife, as in shaping something or as a mere aimless diversion.

   to spend an afternoon whittling.

2. to tire oneself or another by worrying or fussing.

noun

1. British Dialect. a knife, especially a large one, as a carving knife or a butcher knife.

Whittle ² American  

[hwit-l, wit-l] / ˈʰwɪt l, ˈwɪt l /

noun

1. Sir Frank, 1907–96, English engineer and inventor.

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Whittle ¹ British  

/ ˈwɪtəl /

noun

1. Sir Frank. 1907–96, English engineer, who invented the jet engine for aircraft; flew first British jet aircraft (1941)

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whittle ² British  

/ ˈwɪtəl /

verb

1. to cut or shave strips or pieces from (wood, a stick, etc), esp with a knife

2. (tr) to make or shape by paring or shaving

3. (tr; often foll by away, down, off, etc) to reduce, destroy, or wear away gradually

4. dialect (intr) to complain or worry about something continually

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noun

1. dialect a knife, esp a large one

Whittle Scientific  

/ wĭt′l /

1. British aeronautical engineer and inventor who developed the first aircraft engine powered by jet propulsion in 1937.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• whittler
  noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

• whittling
  present
• whittled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• whittle
  simple
• whittles
  simple
• have whittled
  perfect
• has whittled
  perfect
• am whittling
  progressive
• are whittling
  progressive
• is whittling
  progressive
• have been whittling
  perfect progressive
• has been whittling
  perfect progressive

Past

• whittled
  simple
• had whittled
  perfect
• was whittling
  progressive
• were whittling
  progressive
• had been whittling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will whittle
  simple
• will have whittled
  perfect
• will be whittling
  progressive
• will have been whittling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of whittle

1375–1425; late Middle English (noun), dialectal variant of thwitel knife, Old English thwīt ( an ) to cut + -el -le

Explanation

To whittle is to pare or carve away. Wood carvers whittle pieces of wood, removing bit by bit until what's left is a sailor with a yellow raincoat or a lone wolf howling at the moon. Whittle can also mean to reduce an amount or number of items. In this sense, it is commonly paired with the words away or down. A courtroom attorney might "whittle away" at a defendant's alibi until the truth emerges. You might "whittle down" a to-do list or "whittle away" at your student loan debt every month. But only a highly skilled wood carver can whittle a chunk of pine into that old salty dog with a yellow raincoat.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

whittle Whittle whittles whittled whittling

Trendforce, a research firm, said China’s manufacturing advantage could help it whittle away at America’s lead, since it could deploy humanoids faster at scale.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026

His goal is to whittle that down to around 30%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Teams must whittle their roster from 90 or 91 players down to 53 by 31 August.

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

For more than a decade, I’ve been teaching a course at the California Institute of the Arts called American Drama Now, and each year the selection of plays has become harder to whittle down.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

I get the sense that if I were to whittle her down to her core, she would be Abnegation all the way through.

From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth

Whittle was born in Coventry in 1907 and joined the RAF in 1923, training as an aircraft mechanic and graduating from RAF Cranwell as an officer in 1928.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

During the amendment phase of the debate, Tory MSP Brian Whittle highlighted the importance of using this bill to promote more discussion on understanding peoples' wishes at the end of life.

From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2026

Whittle indicated that she would seek further information before making a Prevention of Future Deaths order.

From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2026

Plaid's candidate Lindsay Whittle was victorious after his party spent £46,933, while Reform UK, which came second, spent £96,125.

From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2026

Mr. Whittle meditated a moment, and then putting down his gun he walked over to a piece of looking-glass, which was tacked against the wall, and took a long look at himself.

From The Mystery of the Locks by Edgar Watson Howe

That’s because inflation whittles away at the real purchasing power of those future interest payments.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 17, 2026

Continuing to work whittles away at what time we have left to travel and enjoy the rest of the world.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 19, 2025

Even as the state hospital whittles down its waitlist, it’s still grappling with how to handle the influx of patients with a wide range of needs.

From Seattle Times ● May 28, 2024

This event often whittles down the primary field to a handful of candidates.

From Reuters ● Aug. 16, 2023

The Damasio team whittles it down to one.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

Originally conceived as a $23-billion bond measure that the Legislature would approve to go before voters in November, it was whittled down to $12 billion.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026

The longlist, referred to as the Booker Dozen, will be whittled down to a shortlist on 22 September, before the winner is announced on 9 November.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

That marks the reversal of a 15-year period when company buybacks and mergers-and-acquisitions activity whittled down the actual number of shares out there to invest, giving stocks fuel to keep rising, said McElligott.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 11, 2026

In the days before the trial, the more than 20 claims that Musk had leveled at Altman and his associates were whittled down to just two: breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026

Pa whittled on a stick and I was staring hard at a drawing in a book.

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney

Brands have cut weight by whittling away every gram.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026

After whittling what had been a 24-point deficit to four with a little more than three minutes left Saturday, the Bruins could not find the miracle finish they were seeking.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 3, 2026

But the key is to put a cap on how much you spend to avoid falling into the trap of whittling away your winnings.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 12, 2025

Billed as a fundraiser, the debt-ridden centre said the money from the portfolios would go towards whittling down a long list of overdue bills, including unpaid wages for educators.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2025

Longstreet was sitting on a camp stool, whittling slowly on a stick, making a point, sharpening the point, sharpening, sharpening.

From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara

Related Words

• diminish
• erode
• lessen
• pare
• shave
• trim