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to whittle down
01
to gradually reduce or decrease something by cutting away or eliminating bit by bit
Grammatical Information
Composition
phrasal
Action verb
Regular
Separable
Particle
down
Base verb
whittle
Present tense
whittle down
3rd person singular
whittles down
Present participle
whittling down
Past simple
whittled down
Past participle
whittled down
Examples
To meet the weight limit, the traveler had to whittle down the contents of the suitcase, leaving behind non-essential items.
