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Glite Dictionary
to cull out

to cull out

1 7.1
To choose the best items from a larger group and remove them
  • phrasal verb
  • /kʌl aʊt/
translation icon : seleccionar
  • The sole purpose of these orphanages is to allow us to cull out the geniuses... the natural leaders.

Examples

  • To improve the garden, I will cull out the weeds that are choking the flowers.

  • I culled out something like 1,500 books yesterday and need to bring them to Goodwill today.

    Blog text (12)

  • I culled out two of the younger ones who seemed to be in the worst throes of puberty.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • For Twitter, Twerpscan is really helpful to cull out spammers.

    Blog text (23)

  • Your comment offers a great suggestion for how to cull out the non-contributing followers and parameters for creating a Twitter community from which you and your followers benefit.

    Blog text (23)

  • The man was shoveling dirt into the screen, and the woman was culling out objects trapped by the wire mesh and placing them in plastic bags.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Yesterday, I decided to cull out the old clothes from my closet to donate them to charity.

  • The teacher asked us to cull out the best essays from the stack for the school competition.

Synonyms

to select
vsto cull out
823 2.5

To choose someone or something from a group

also removes those chosen items from the larger group
to cull
vsto cull out
18 6.9

To choose and collect items from a larger group for use

matches this but stresses removing the best or most suitable items
to winnow
vsto cull out
8 8.3

To choose the most important parts from a larger group

focuses more on taking those items away from the whole group
to pick over
vsto cull out
2 3.6

To look through items carefully to choose the best or remove bad ones

is more about taking the chosen items out rather than only inspecting
to winnow down
vsto cull out
2 6.5

Make a large list smaller by removing worse choices

works similarly but highlights taking the chosen items out directly
to select out
vsto cull out
1 4.4

To choose some items from a group and separate them from others

focuses more on selecting for removal rather than mere identification
to winnow out
vsto cull out
1 7.1

Remove people or things from a group because they are not suitable

instead focuses on taking the desirable items away from the group
to skim off
vsto cull out
1 4.6

Take the best people or things from a group, leaving the rest behind

does the same but emphasizes physical removal from the group
to cream the crop
vsto cull out
  • Informal
8.5

To choose the best people or things from a group

adds the idea of removing those chosen items from the set

Antonyms

to keep
∞ 1.0

To store something for later use

How Selective

to cull out
1 7.1
to select
823 2.5
to pick out
237 2.0
to choose
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

cull out infinitive
culled out past
culled out past participle
culling out present participle
culls out third person singular

Morphology

cull + out

The sense 'select and remove' is directly built from 'cull' (to pick or select from a group) plus the particle 'out' (indicating removal or separation), so the overall meaning is a straightforward compositional combination. This verb+particle pattern is common in English and cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would likely infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Cull out comes from the simple picture of picking items from a group: to cull is to pick, and to move them out is to take them away. So cull out means 'to choose and remove' the best or most useful items.