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Meaning & use

thinning out

noun·Advanced

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UK/ˈθɪnɪŋ ˈaʊt/
US/ˈθɪnɪŋ ˈaʊt/

Meanings

  1. noununcountabletechnical

    The removal of some seedlings, branches or trees so that the ones left have more room to grow.

    Grammar: Often follows verbs like need or do: the carrots need thinning out.

    Patterns

    • the thinning out of something
    • something needs thinning out

    The carrot rows need thinning out before the roots start to crowd each other.

    Thinning out of the pine forest let more light reach the ground.

    She spent the morning on the thinning out of her lettuce beds.

  2. nounsingular

    A gradual fall in the number or closeness of things, such as people, traffic or hair.

    Grammar: Takes a singular verb and often describes a process in progress: the thinning out of the crowd.

    Patterns

    • the thinning out of something

    By ten o'clock there was a thinning out of the crowd along the beach.

    Doctors noticed a thinning out of hair on the left side.

    Traffic showed a steady thinning out after the rush hour.

Common combinations

need thinning out
The overgrown hedge badly needs thinning out.
thinning out of the crowd
The thinning out of the crowd told us the concert was almost over.
the thinning out of seedlings
The thinning out of seedlings gives the strongest ones room.
a gradual thinning out
There was a gradual thinning out of staff over the winter.
thinning out of woodland
Careful thinning out of woodland helps native flowers return.

Synonyms and how they differ

culling
Culling usually means removing animals or weak plants on purpose, and often sounds harsher than thinning out.
pruning
Pruning means cutting back parts of a plant such as branches, while thinning out removes whole plants or stems to reduce crowding.
reduction
Reduction is a general word for making less, with no connection to space or growth.
dispersal
Dispersal means scattering things in different directions, not removing some of them.

Opposites

crowdingthickening

Word family

thin verb
to make or become less dense
thinner noun
a liquid used to make paint or varnish less thick
thinness noun
the quality of being thin
thin out phrasal verb
to become or make fewer or less dense

Commonly confused: thinning out or thinning?

thinning out vs thinning

Thinning alone also describes hair loss or a becoming-thinner process. Thinning out is the phrase for reducing the number of plants or people in an area.

Practice

The gardener said the seedlings were crowded and needed ____ if they were going to grow properly.

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