Sift
sɪft
Definitions
2 meaningsTo pass through a sieve or screen in order to separate finer particles from coarser ones, or to remove lumps.
sɪft
To put a fine powder through a sieve to separate out lumps or impurities.
Before baking, sift the flour to remove any lumps.
💡 Simply: Imagine you're baking a cake. You use a special tool to make the flour super fluffy and get rid of any clumps, this is sifting! It helps the cake be nice and light.
👶 For kids: To shake something through a screen to make it smooth, like when you get the lumps out of flour.
More Examples
The geologist sifted through the soil looking for fossils.
Carefully sift the sand for any valuable objects.
How It's Used
"She sifted the flour before adding it to the cake batter."
"The prospector sifted through the gravel, hoping to find gold."
To examine something carefully, often in order to separate or distinguish the useful parts from the unwanted ones.
sɪft
To examine something carefully to separate the important things from the unimportant ones.
The committee sifted through the applications before making their decision.
💡 Simply: Imagine you're looking through a bunch of emails to find the important ones. You 'sift' through them to get the information you need. You are picking out what's important.
👶 For kids: To look very carefully at something to find what you need, like looking for the right toys in a big toy box.
More Examples
Experts sifted the financial records for discrepancies.
He had to sift through the evidence to uncover the truth.
How It's Used
"The detectives sifted through the evidence to find the truth."
"The researchers sifted data to identify patterns."
Synonyms
Filter
Screen
Separate
Sieve
Analyze
Examine
Investigate
Idioms & expressions
sift through
To examine something carefully, often a large amount of material, to find something useful or valuable.
"The police sifted through the evidence at the crime scene."
From Middle English *siften, from Old English siftan ('to separate with a sieve'), from Proto-Germanic *sibjaną.
Historically, sifting was a crucial process in various industries, including food processing and mining, to separate desired materials from unwanted impurities.
Memory tip
Think of sifting flour - you're separating the clumps to get a finer, smoother texture.