SIFT

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does sift mean? 

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

1. move as if through a sieve

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

3. check and sort carefully

4. distinguish and separate out

  Familiarity information: SIFT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SIFT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they sift    ... he / she / it sifts   
Past simple: sifted   
Past participle: sifted   
-ing form: sifting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move as if through a sieve

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

The soldiers sifted through the woods

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

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Sentence frames:

Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 2

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 "sift" is one way to...):

separate (divide into components or constituents)

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

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

Derivation:

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

sifter (a household sieve (as for flour))

sifting (the act of separating grain from chaff)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Check and sort carefully

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

sieve; sift

Context example:

sift the information

Hypernyms (to "sift" 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 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 "sift" 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 

That’s why I want to sift the matter to the bottom.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And she was sent into the kitchen, and made to fetch wood and water, to blow the fire, pluck the poultry, pick the herbs, sift the ashes, and do all the dirty work.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Researchers at Drexel University are using its pattern-recognition ability to identify microbial communities in the human body by sifting through volumes of genetic code.

(Microbes are at work in our bodies, and researchers have figured out what they're up to, National Science Foundation)

He multiplied his questions, and sifted me thoroughly upon every part of this head, proposing numberless inquiries and objections, which I think it not prudent or convenient to repeat.

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

It is one of those cases where the art of the reasoner should be used rather for the sifting of details than for the acquiring of fresh evidence.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I shall sift the matter to the bottom, and put a stop to such pranks at once.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Wolf Larsen, evidently, had sifted the great philosopher’s teachings, rejecting and selecting according to his needs and desires.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Kepler-90i wasn't the only jewel this neural network sifted out.

(Artificial Intelligence, NASA Data Used to Discover Eighth Planet Circling Distant Star, NASA)

He saw no beauty in the sunshine sifting down through the green leaves, nor did the azure vault of the sky whisper as of old and hint of cosmic vastness and secrets trembling to disclosure.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Inspired by the way neurons connect in the human brain, this artificial neural network sifted through Kepler data and found weak transit signals from a previously-missed eighth planet orbiting Kepler-90, in the constellation Draco.

(Artificial Intelligence, NASA Data Used to Discover Eighth Planet Circling Distant Star, NASA)