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Glite Dictionary
to separate the wheat from the chaff

to separate the wheat from the chaff

3 6.6
To pick out useful people or things from those that are not
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : distinguir lo valioso de lo inútil
  • Thankfully, we come from a background that gives us the ability to separate the wheat from the chaff better than most.

OK, so that's going to separate the wheat from the chaff, right?

Examples

  • When they are sophisticated, it can get harder to separate the wheat from the chaff.

    Blog text (16)

  • Screen clients carefully to separate the wheat from the chaff before cases become problems.

    Academic text (1998)

  • I need to separate the wheat from the chaff.

    Death Note (2017)

  • You got to separate the wheat from the chaff.

    The Killing Jar (2010)

  • I know to separate the wheat from the chaff and let the small stuff fall away.

    The Straight Story (1999)

  • So you have to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff.

    Blog text (6)

  • Time to separate the wheat from the chaff.

    Blog text (6)

  • Trust competent administrators to separate the wheat from the chaff and get out of the way.

    Blog text (13)

  • The prudent investor understands this, and we believe should always be willing to separate the wheat from the chaff.

    Blog text (28)

  • In today’s meetings, we need to separate the wheat from the chaff to focus on the most promising projects.

Synonyms

to weed out
vsto separate the wheat from the chaff
37 3.8

To remove unwanted people or things from a group

is about distinguishing true value rather than removing merely less desirable items
to sort through the dross
vsto separate the wheat from the chaff
  • Informal
8.7

To look through a group of things and keep what is useful

is about identifying valuable items rather than performing the physical sorting
to filter out the dross
vsto separate the wheat from the chaff
  • Informal
7.2

To remove unwanted things so only useful ones remain

emphasizes identifying value rather than the physical removal process
to chew the meat and spit out the bones
vsto separate the wheat from the chaff
  • Informal
8.0

Keep the useful parts and ignore the rest

focuses on distinguishing valuable items rather than on keeping useful parts

Antonyms

to confuse
38 1.9

Mix things up so their order is not clear

How Selective

to eliminate
  • NSFW
502 3.4
to weed out
37 3.8
to separate the wheat from the chaff
  • Informal
3 6.6
to sort out
37 2.8
to notice
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

separate the wheat from the chaff infinitive
separated the wheat from the chaff past
separated the wheat from the chaff past participle
separating the wheat from the chaff present participle
separates the wheat from the chaff third person singular

Morphology

separate + the + wheat + from + the + chaff

The meaning maps directly from the literal agricultural image: separating edible grain (wheat) from useless husks (chaff) corresponds clearly to distinguishing valuable from worthless items; a learner who knows 'separate', 'wheat' and 'chaff' can infer this metaphorical sense. This metaphorical mapping is common cross-linguistically, so the composition is immediately comprehensible rather than arbitrary.

Etymology

Separate the wheat from the chaff comes from farming: when farmers toss harvested grain the wind blows away the light bits called chaff while the heavy wheat stays. So, the saying means to pick out the 'useful' or 'valuable' things and leave the 'useless' ones.