SIEVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sieve mean? 

• SIEVE (noun)
  The noun SIEVE has 1 sense:

1. a strainer for separating lumps from powdered material or grading particles

  Familiarity information: SIEVE used as a noun is very rare.

• SIEVE (verb)
  The verb SIEVE has 4 senses:

1. examine in order to test suitability

2. check and sort carefully

3. separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements

4. distinguish and separate out

  Familiarity information: SIEVE used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SIEVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A strainer for separating lumps from powdered material or grading particles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

screen; sieve

Hypernyms ("sieve" is a kind of...):

strainer (a filter to retain larger pieces while smaller pieces and liquids pass through)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sieve"):

riddle (a coarse sieve (as for gravel))

sifter (a household sieve (as for flour))

Derivation:

sieve; sift (separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements)

• SIEVE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sieve    ... he / she / it sieves   
Past simple: sieved   
Past participle: sieved   
-ing form: sieving   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Examine in order to test suitability

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

screen; screen out; sieve; sort

Context example:

screen the job applicants

Hypernyms (to "sieve" is one way to...):

choose; pick out; select; take (pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Check and sort carefully

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

sieve; sift

Context example:

sift the information

Hypernyms (to "sieve" is one way to...):

analyse; analyze; canvass; examine; study (consider in detail and subject to an analysis in order to discover essential features or meaning)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

sieve; sift; strain

Context example:

sift the flour

Hypernyms (to "sieve" is one way to...):

separate (divide into components or constituents)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sieve"):

rice (sieve so that it becomes the consistency of rice)

resift (sift anew)

riddle; screen (separate with a riddle, as grain from chaff)

winnow (separate the chaff from grain by using air currents)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Also:

sieve out (separate or remove)

Derivation:

sieve (a strainer for separating lumps from powdered material or grading particles)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Distinguish and separate out

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

sieve; sift

Context example:

sift through the job candidates

Hypernyms (to "sieve" is one way to...):

choose; pick out; select; take (pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

Having the appearance of a sieve: containing many perforations.

(Cribriform, NCI Thesaurus)

Disabled in that typhoon. Old tub. Opened up top and bottom like a sieve. They were adrift four days.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Pierced with small holes as in a sieve.

(Cribriform, NCI Dictionary)

Gel permeation or sieve chromatography that is performed on porous gels that separate solutes on the basis of size.

(Gel Filtration Chromatography, NCI Thesaurus)

I told him, “that in the kingdom of Tribnia, by the natives called Langdon, where I had sojourned some time in my travels, the bulk of the people consist in a manner wholly of discoverers, witnesses, informers, accusers, prosecutors, evidences, swearers, together with their several subservient and subaltern instruments, all under the colours, the conduct, and the pay of ministers of state, and their deputies. The plots, in that kingdom, are usually the workmanship of those persons who desire to raise their own characters of profound politicians; to restore new vigour to a crazy administration; to stifle or divert general discontents; to fill their coffers with forfeitures; and raise, or sink the opinion of public credit, as either shall best answer their private advantage. It is first agreed and settled among them, what suspected persons shall be accused of a plot; then, effectual care is taken to secure all their letters and papers, and put the owners in chains. These papers are delivered to a set of artists, very dexterous in finding out the mysterious meanings of words, syllables, and letters: for instance, they can discover a close stool, to signify a privy council; a flock of geese, a senate; a lame dog, an invader; the plague, a standing army; a buzzard, a prime minister; the gout, a high priest; a gibbet, a secretary of state; a chamber pot, a committee of grandees; a sieve, a court lady; a broom, a revolution; a mouse-trap, an employment; a bottomless pit, a treasury; a sink, a court; a cap and bells, a favourite; a broken reed, a court of justice; an empty tun, a general; a running sore, the administration.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)