to cut, trim, or shape (a stick, piece of wood, etc.) by carving off bits with a knife.
to form by whittling.
to whittle a figure.
to cut off (a bit).
to reduce the amount of, as if by whittling; pare down; take away by degrees (usually followed by down, away, etc.).
to whittle down the company's overhead; to whittle away one's inheritance.
to whittle wood or the like with a knife, as in shaping something or as a mere aimless diversion.
to spend an afternoon whittling.
to tire oneself or another by worrying or fussing.
to cut or shave strips or pieces from (wood, a stick, etc), esp with a knife
(tr) to make or shape by paring or shaving
(tr; often foll by away, down, off, etc) to reduce, destroy, or wear away gradually
dialect (intr) to complain or worry about something continually
1375–1425; late Middle English (noun), dialectal variant of thwitel knife, Old English thwīt ( an ) to cut + -el -le
To whittle is to pare or carve away. Wood carvers whittle pieces of wood, removing bit by bit until what's left is a sailor with a yellow raincoat or a lone wolf howling at the moon. Whittle can also mean to reduce an amount or number of items. In this sense, it is commonly paired with the words away or down. A courtroom attorney might "whittle away" at a defendant's alibi until the truth emerges. You might "whittle down" a to-do list or "whittle away" at your student loan debt every month. But only a highly skilled wood carver can whittle a chunk of pine into that old salty dog with a yellow raincoat.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Builders had hoped to capitalize on a busy spring buying season to whittle down inventories, but it was disappointing.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 16, 2026
If you have a highly concentrated stock allocation with large built-up gains, you can gradually whittle down your position and use the $6,000 deduction to minimize or cancel the tax hit, Adams says.
From Barron's • Apr. 25, 2026
He must whittle that number down to 26 as England accelerate planning for their opening World Cup game against Croatia on 17 June in Arlington, Texas.
From BBC • Apr. 1, 2026
That hasn’t deterred the U.S., which has been flying more than 10 MQ-9 orbits over Iran at a time as the American commanders push to stop Tehran’s ballistic-missile launches and whittle down other offensive capabilities.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 16, 2026
Over the summer, when I was with Dad and Steph in Phoenix, he taught me how to whittle a spoon, a turtle, and a bear that ended up looking like a snowman.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
