cull

Meanings

1. 1verbtransitive

   To kill a number of animals from a group on purpose, usually to keep the population at a healthy or manageable size.

   Grammar: Takes an object: officials culled the deer.

   Patterns

   • cull something
   • cull something from something

   Rangers culled the deer herd after the harsh winter left too little food.

   The government decided to cull thousands of birds to stop the disease from spreading.

   Hunters are allowed to cull foxes on the farm.

2. 2verbtransitivefigurative

   To remove the weakest, least useful or unwanted items or people from a larger group.

   Grammar: Takes an object, and often from for the larger group: cull names from a list.

   Patterns

   • cull something from something

   The coach culled the squad from thirty players to twenty-two.

   We culled our book collection before the move.

   The company culled its product range to save money.

3. 3verbtransitiveformal

   To gather or pick out information or examples from a number of sources.

   Grammar: Often followed by from: facts culled from several reports.

   Patterns

   • cull something from something

   The article culls quotes from dozens of interviews.

   Her speech included statistics culled from government surveys.

4. 4nouncountable

   An organized killing of a number of animals to reduce a population.

   Grammar: Usually preceded by an or the: a badger cull.

   Patterns

   • a cull of something

   Protesters gathered to oppose the planned seal cull.

   The annual cull keeps the deer population stable.

Word forms

Common combinations

cull the herd

Officials may have to cull the herd to protect the grassland.

selective cull

A selective cull removed only the oldest animals.

cull from

The data were culled from public records.

annual cull

The island's annual cull is controversial.

cull the weak

Hard winters cull the weak from the flock.

cull a list

She culled the guest list to fit the small room.

Synonyms and how they differ

slaughter

Slaughter is a general word for killing animals, often for meat, whereas cull implies a planned reduction of a wild or large population.

thin out

Thin out is the plain, less harsh phrase and can describe plants or crowds, while cull is more specialized.

weed out

Weed out stresses removing what is bad or unwanted from a group, and it is rarely about killing animals.

select

Select means to choose something good, whereas the information sense of cull implies gathering from many sources.

Opposites

Word family

culling noun

the act of selectively removing animals or items

culled adjective

removed or selected from a larger group

cull noun

an organized killing of animals to reduce numbers

Commonly confused: cull or kill? cull or call?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “cull”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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