Winnowing
noun, verb ·3 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The act of separating chaff from grain.
"If God doth suffer his own people and dearest children to be exposed to Satan's temptings and winnowings; Why should any man then doubt of his childship, doubt of his own everlasting condition, and say, that he is none of the child of God because he is tempted?"
- 2 the act of separating grain from chaff wordnet
- 1 present participle and gerund of winnow form-of, gerund, participle, present
Example
More examples"Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, "My daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? Now isn't Boaz our kinsman, with whose maidens you were? Behold, he will be winnowing barley tonight on the threshing floor. Therefore wash yourself, anoint yourself, get dressed, and go down to the threshing floor; but don’t make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. It shall be, when he lies down, that you shall note the place where he is lying. Then you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lay down. Then he will tell you what to do.""
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.