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Glite Dictionary
🔍 To search carefully 🥣 To separate fine parts
to sift

to sift

12 2.5
To put flour through a sieve to remove lumps
  • verb
  • /sɪft/
translation icon : tamizar
  • In the baking process, it is important to sift the flour for a lighter texture.
  • sift through the dirt

Put some brains in the dirt and sift it all day.

Examples

  • Can you sift the flour ?

    The Hours (2002)

  • We sifted some flour already.

    Shorts (2009)

  • I dry it, lump it into small pieces... and carefully sift it.

    Crying Freeman (1995)

  • And then we sift it for impurities.

    Silkwood (1983)

  • You're supposed to sift the flour, not sit in it!

    Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006)

  • Clouds of flour and sugar sift onto table surfaces and slip underfoot.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Onto waxed paper, sift flour, baking powder, and salt three times.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Joe walked around me, glanced down at the wall, and began sifting through the pile with me.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • After the brothers unloaded the flour and sifted it, they asked Father to bake bread.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • An A.T.F. agent smashes the micro on the ground and sifts through the pieces.

    Fiction book (1996)

Synonyms

to screen
vsto sift
1 6.8

Remove small bits and dirt from grain using a sieve

emphasizes keeping finer parts rather than only removing chaff
to sieve
vsto sift
1 5.8

Pass a powder or liquid through fine mesh to remove lumps

focuses on separating finer parts from coarser ones
to riddle
vsto sift
  • Archaic
1 9.9

To sift grain or flour through a coarse sieve

describes the same separating action without naming the tool
to sieve out
vsto sift
1 5.3

Remove unwanted bits from food or material by passing them through a screen

focuses on finer parts rather than on discarding unwanted items

Antonyms

to mix
416 1.0

To combine two or more things so they become one

Phrasal Verbs

to sift through
44 3.9

To look through many things carefully to find something specific

How Fine

filter
139 2.8
to sift
12 2.5
to screen
1 6.8

Surface Forms

sift infinitive
sifted past
sifted past participle
sifting present participle
sifts third person singular

Etymology

The word sift originally meant to pass a substance through a sieve to let the fine bits fall through and leave the bigger pieces behind. That's why to sift flour or soil is to separate the fine from the coarse.