Winnowing: meaning, definitions and examples

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winnowing

[ ˈwɪnəʊɪŋ ]

^{Context #1}

agriculture

The process of separating the chaff from the grain by means of a current of air.

Synonyms

filtering, separating, sorting

Examples of usage

Winnowing is an important step in the harvest process.
The winnowing machine helped to automate the separation of chaff and grain.
Farmers used to winnow by hand, but now they use machines for efficiency.

^{Context #2}

figurative

To separate the valuable or useful from the worthless or undesirable.

Synonyms

filter, sift, sort

Examples of usage

She spent hours winnowing through the documents to find the important information.
The detective had to winnow through the evidence to solve the case.

Translations

Translations of the word "winnowing" in other languages:

🇵🇹 ventilação

🇮🇳 फटकना

🇩🇪 Worfeln

🇮🇩 penampi

🇺🇦 віяти

🇵🇱 wietrzenie

🇯🇵 選別 (せんべつ)

🇫🇷 vannage

🇪🇸 aventado

🇹🇷 savurma

🇰🇷 키질

🇸🇦 غربلة

🇨🇿 vytřídění

🇸🇰 triedenie

🇨🇳 簸箕 (bò jī)

🇸🇮 prebiranje

🇮🇸 vindskeið

🇰🇿 елеу

🇬🇪 გაფქვევა

🇦🇿 küləşəkən

🇲🇽 aventado

Word origin

The word 'winnowing' has its origins in Old English, where 'windwian' meant to fan or blow. The process of winnowing has been used for centuries in agriculture to separate grain from chaff, allowing for the collection of the valuable grain. Over time, the term has also been used metaphorically to describe the act of separating the important from the unimportant in a broader sense.