sieve

CEFRB2

/sɪv/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A tool with a mesh used to separate smaller pieces.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A kind of coarse basket.

Examples

  • I have a memory like a sieve.

  • The walls of the small intestine are like a sieve.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4
Synonyms
3

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A process, physical or abstract, that arrives at a final result by filtering out unwanted pieces of input from a larger starting set of input.

  2. A device with a mesh, grate, or otherwise perforated bottom to separate, in a granular material, larger particles from smaller ones, or to separate solid objects from a liquid.

  3. A person, or their mind, that cannot remember things or is unable to keep secrets.

More examples

In context

  • Water runs through a paper towel as if it were a sieve.

  • Given a list of consecutive numbers starting at 1, the Sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm will find all of the prime numbers.

  • Use the sieve to get the pasta from the water.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

To remove lumps from the flour, the baker passed it through a fine blank.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English sive, syfe, from Old English sife, from Proto-West Germanic *sibi (“sieve”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyp-, *seyb- (“to pour, sieve, strain, run, drip”). Akin to German Sieb, Dutch zeef, Proto-Slavic *sito (Russian си́то (síto), сев (sev), се́ять (séjatʹ)).