Meaning & use
Whittling
Last updated
Carving or shaping a piece of wood by slicing small pieces off its surface, typically with a knife.
See it in a sentence
He spent the evening whittling a small bird from a block of pine.
The committee spent weeks whittling down the list of candidates to just three.
A note on using this word
Beyond woodworking, 'whittling down' is a common figurative phrase meaning to gradually reduce something in size or number.
Words with a similar meaning
carvingshavingparing
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
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