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Glite Dictionary
to thin the herd

to thin the herd

3 7.4
To reduce the number of animals or people in a group to improve health and balance
  • phrasal verb
  • Offensive
translation icon : eliminar
  • This may be nature's way of thinning the herd when population outstrips resources.

There's no thinning the herd to let the fittest survive.

Examples

  • I've thinned the herd a couple of times and may do so one more big time as I reduce my office/bedroom a bit further to be more functional.

    Blog text (4)

  • They'll single them out, divide them up, then thin the herd.

    The Baytown Outlaws (2012)

  • Just trying to thin the herd.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Nothing wrong with thinning the herd once in a while.

    Inferno (2016)

  • Both parties are thinning the herd.

    Blog text (12)

  • The park rangers decided to thin the herd of deer to prevent overgrazing in the area.

  • To ensure the health of the livestock, the farmer must thin the herd each year.

  • During the drought, the wildlife management team had to thin the herd to keep the remaining animals healthy.

Synonyms

to cull
vsto thin the herd
  • Specialized
9 7.0

To remove unwanted animals from a group to control numbers and improve quality

reduces group size for health and balance rather than targeting low quality individuals
to thin out
vsto thin the herd
  • Informal
5 3.5

Remove some people or things so the rest are more spread out

reduces numbers to improve health balance or efficiency rather than just make things sparse

Antonyms

to enlarge
70 3.0

To make something bigger in size or amount

How Few

to cull
  • Specialized
9 7.0
to thin the herd
  • Offensive
3 7.4
to downsize
8 4.1
to reduce
71 2.8

Surface Forms

thin the herd infinitive
thinned the herd past
thinned the herd past participle
thinning the herd present participle
thins the herd third person singular

Morphology

thin + the + herd

The sense ‘to reduce the number or density of a group’ follows directly from combining 'thin' (to make less dense or remove members) with 'herd' (a group of animals or people). This compositional pattern is literal and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should be able to infer the MWE’s meaning.

Etymology

Thin the herd comes from farming and work with wild animals, where people would thin a herd by removing weak or extra animals so the rest stayed healthier. That's why it now means 'to reduce the size of a group on purpose' to improve health or efficiency.