Link Centre Dictionary

sift

UK/sɪft/ US/ˈsɪft/ uncommon archaic dated us

verb

1.

move as if through a sieve

  • “The soldiers sifted through the woods”
2.

separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements

  • “sift the flour”
Synonyms
3.

check and sort carefully

  • “sift the information”
Synonyms
4.

distinguish and separate out

  • “sift through the job candidates”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English syften, from Old English siftan, from Proto-West Germanic *siftijan.

Phrases

  • sift out
  • sift through

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.