to sift through
44
3.9
- phrasal verb
- /sɪft θru/
:
revisar
- The detective had to sift through a mountain of evidence to find the crucial piece that would solve the case.
- sift through the data
- sift through the details
- sift through huge amounts
Instead of sifting through the ruin, go find that treasure in that mess.
- Instead of sifting through the ruin, go find that treasure in that mess.
- And Alec just looks at her like Jace would literally burn the whole world down and sift through the ashes for you.
- Because when you're say, Twitter or Reddit, you have got a lot of data to sift through.
- And even when it is not our parent, we are like people sifting through the wreckage of a burned down building.
- And it is that process of just like, oh man, all the wreckage from my past is here and you kind of have to sift through it.
- Too much of my life is spent sifting through information that I don't want to look at, and that's a frustrating fact.
- But, but it's easy to to kind of sift through with who posts what.
- It's really difficult unless you're spending all day watching that to sift through what's real and what's false from from both sides.
- It was a mess that we sifted through, but because of that mess that we sifted through that we investigated.
- And when I finally thought about that in that fashion, what was the value in sifting through, bringing teams out, looking at stuff?
- So why don't we come together, take all of our best ideas and then try to sift through.
Examples
-
In the accident and emergency department of a busy hospital, Juliet sifts through a set of case notes.
Fiction book (1994) -
Now, in the meantime, investigators are continuing to sift through clues as to where exactly the boys are and what may have happened to them.
-
But there is a way to sift through that and meet new people in this amazing city of New York.
-
So you still actually need to sift through it and then decide which aspects to focus on.
-
I had tried to create different methods by which to sift fairly through the applications, but none were successful.
Fiction book (1994) -
I'm sifting through potential candidates for our program.
-
Today, consumers must sift through rumors based on inadequate data and very little analysis.
Fiction book (1995) -
I spent the day sifting through missing person's reports with Chet.
-
The reporter lacked the background in economic development to sift through the numbers and present the news accurately.
Academic text (2000) -
It's been advantageous, by the way, because we've been able to sift through what may not work and what may work.
Synonyms
868
2.5
To look at something carefully to find facts or problems
675
3.2
To study something carefully to understand it better
390
2.7
To look at something carefully to find mistakes or missing details
180
2.8
To read or check something carefully for mistakes
127
2.7
To look quickly to find specific information
66
3.3
To search a place very carefully to find something
61
3.7
To look carefully through information to find what is important
32
7.0
To read something slowly and carefully to understand it
28
5.5
To study things like books or papers carefully to find information
4
3.2
To look at something carefully and check all its parts
4
4.6
To search carefully through a large area or collection
2
3.6
To look through items carefully to choose the best or remove bad ones
1
5.6
Examine information carefully to find what is important
To look through a group of things and keep what is useful
Antonyms
How Thorough
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to examine carefully' is directly and compositionally derived from 'sift' (to sort or examine material) plus 'through' (across/completely), so the overall sense of searching or sorting through items is predictable. This motion/particle construction is a common compositional pattern and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Sift through comes from the image of pouring a mix into a sieve and letting the small bits pass through while the larger pieces stay behind. That picture of checking many things bit by bit is why sift through means 'to examine a large number of things carefully to find something specific'.