winnowing
/'winoui /
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun: 1. The act of separating grain from chaff: The process of removing the lighter, inedible husks (chaff) from harvested grain, traditionally done by tossing the mixture into the air so the wind blows the chaff away. 2. The act of sifting or selecting: The process of carefully examining a group of things to remove the undesirable or less valuable elements, leaving only the best or most useful.
Usage
- Noun:
- Traditional winnowing requires a breeze to blow away the chaff.
- The committee began the winnowing of hundreds of applications down to a few finalists.
Advanced Usage
- "The great winnowing": A metaphorical phrase describing a large-scale process of elimination or selection, often in competitive contexts like business or nature.
- The economic downturn resulted in a great winnowing of inefficient companies.
Variants and Related Words
- Winnow (verb): To separate grain from chaff; to reduce a large number of people or things by removing the less desirable ones.
- They will winnow the list of candidates.
- Winnower (noun): A person or device that performs winnowing.
- The farmer used a basket as a winnower.
Synonyms
- Separation: The action of moving or being moved apart.
- Sifting: The process of examining something thoroughly to isolate what is important or valuable.
- Sorting: The action of arranging items in a particular order or separating them into categories.
Related Phrases
- To winnow out: To remove (something unwanted) from a group.
- The initial interview is designed to winnow out unqualified applicants.
Related Idioms
- To separate the wheat from the chaff: To distinguish valuable people or things from worthless ones. (This idiom is conceptually related to the core meaning of "winnowing").
- The difficult test will separate the wheat from the chaff.
Noun
- the act of separating grain from chaff
- the winnowing was done by women