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winnow verb

Click to hear the UK pronunciation of this wordClick to hear the US pronunciation of this word/ˈwɪn.əʊ//-oʊ/ v [T]

Definition

to blow the chaff (= the outer coverings) from grain before it can be used as food
formal to reduce a large number of people or things to a much smaller number by judging their quality
A list of 12 candidates has been winnowed down to a shortlist of three.
a winnowing process

(Definition of winnow verb from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

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