winnow

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“
Failing that, I should like at least to provide them with a criterion of truth, for after me will come an opponent who will flatly contradict me, and how can they sift truth from error when the winnow is wanting?

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Definitions (29)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (12)

  1. transitive verb To separate the chaff from (grain) by means of a current of air.
  2. transitive verb To rid of undesirable parts.
  3. transitive verb To blow (chaff) off or away.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (10)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (5)

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Examples (50)

  • The common practice to winnow peanut by using crircular bamboo tray "bilao" and hand pick the nuts. —  Pinoy - Negosyo - Techs
  • And those cycles tend to winnow out certain chemicals and enhance the population of other chemicals. —  ScreenTalk
  • Over time, voters will select the winning pool of finalists based on their first chapters, and then winnow the field based on the second and third chapters of the books. —  ClickZ News Blog
  • The OTA will winnow the contestants down to 12 finalists, based on how many views each video racks up by May 8. —  JSOnline.com
  • When the process plays itself out (no more than 10 minutes), then have the group begin to winnow the possible solutions down. —  Business Know-How Newsletter. Ideas to market and manage small businesses.
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

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Used in the same contextWord Family

winnow:   winnowing
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 winnewen, alteration of windwen, from Old English windwian, from wind, wind; see wind1.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English winewen, wynewen, winwen, windewen, windwen, wyndwe, from Anglo-Saxon windwian, wyndwian, winnow, fan, ventilate (transitive L. ventilare), with formative - w, from wind, wind, air: see wind, n., and cf. wind, v. Cf. Icelandic vinza, winnow, with formative - z (-s), from vindr, wind (see winze), and L. ventilare, ventilate, from ventus, wind (see ventilate).
  2. from winnow, v.
 

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/ˈwɪnoʊ/
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