Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun winnow

1 sense of winnow

Sense 1
winnow, winnowing, sifting -- (the act of separating grain from chaff; "the winnowing was done by women")
       => separation -- (sorting one thing from others; "the separation of wheat from chaff"; "the separation of mail by postal zones")

Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb winnow

4 senses of winnow

Sense 1
winnow, fan -- (separate the chaff from by using air currents; "She stood there winnowing chaff all day in the field")
       => sift, sieve, strain -- (separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements; "sift the flour")

Sense 2
winnow -- (blow on; "The wind was winnowing her hair"; "the wind winnowed the grass")
       => fan -- (agitate the air)

Sense 3
cull out, winnow -- (select desirable parts from a group or list; "cull out the interesting letters from the poet's correspondence"; "winnow the finalists from the long list of applicants")
       => choose, take, select, pick out -- (pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives; "Take any one of these cards"; "Choose a good husband for your daughter"; "She selected a pair of shoes from among the dozen the salesgirl had shown her")

Sense 4
winnow -- (blow away or off with a current of air; "winnow chaff")
       => remove, take, take away, withdraw -- (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract; "remove a threat"; "remove a wrapper"; "Remove the dirty dishes from the table"; "take the gun from your pocket"; "This machine withdraws heat from the environment")