sift

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“
Sift dry ingredients (I didn't sift, and I regret it).

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Definitions (19)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. transitive verb To put (flour, for example) through a sieve or other straining device in order to separate the fine from the coarse particles.
  2. transitive verb To distinguish as if separating with a sieve: sifted the candidates for the job.
  3. transitive verb To apply by scattering with or as if with a sieve: sift sugar on a dessert.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (7)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • My memories might be his to rifle and sift, but my ability to reach Lisana remained firmly in my control. —  Robin Hobb
  • While Urza burrowed through the tattered scrolls and maps, Mishra learned to dig, to sift, and excavate. —  JEFF GRUBB
  • I have to thank all the previous students of Shelley as poet and man—not last nor least among whom is my husband—for their loving and truthful research on all the subjects surrounding the life of Mrs. Shelley. Every aspect has been presented, and of known material it only remained to compare, sift, and use with judgment. —  Mrs. Shelley
  • “Coleridge,” says Principal Shairp, “was the originator and creator of the higher criticism.” The race has gained ground, made head upon the whole; and thanks to the thinkers gone, there are thinkers now in every community who weigh, sift, try and decide. —  Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 5
  • Sift dry ingredients (I didn't sift, and I regret it). —  WordPress.com News
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

sift:   sifting ·  sifted ·  Sifting
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English siften, from Old English siftan.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from ME, siften, syften, from Anglo-Saxon siftan, syftan = MD siften, Dutch ziften. = Low German siften, Middle Low German Low German also sichten (later G. sichten =Danish sigte =Swedish sikta = Icelandic sikta, sigta), sift (whence Danish sigte =Swedish sikta, a sieve); connected with sife, sibi, a sieve: see sieve.
  2. from sift, v. i.
 

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/sɪft/
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