sift

CEFRB2

/sɪft/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
verb
To pass something through a sieve to remove larger pieces.
02
verb
Extra detail
To examine (something) carefully., To scrutinize (someone or something) carefully so as to find the truth.

Examples

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Deep Dive

Extra meanings

In context

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.
As neere as I could ſift him on that argument, On ſome apparant danger ſeene in him, Aym‘d at your Highneſſe, no inueterate malice.
But if we still carry on our sifting humour, and ask, What is the foundation of all conclusions from experience ? this implies a new question.

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Question 1 · Quick check

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The word in print, with each source given in full.

As neere as I could ſift him on that argument, On ſome apparant danger ſeene in him, Aym‘d at your Highneſſe, no inueterate malice.
1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Publ...
But if we still carry on our sifting humour, and ask, What is the foundation of all conclusions from experience ? this implies a new question.
1748, David Hume, Enquiries concerning the human understanding and concerning the principles of moral, London: Oxford University Press, published 1973, § 28
Sifting through the work of great orators like Philostratus and Quintilian they identify numerous examples of classical irony, metaphor, comparison, etc. which are missing in Paul.
1996, Timothy B. Savage, Power Through Weakness: Paul's Understanding of the Christian Ministry in 2 Corinthians, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, page 70
Britain’s police are especially zealous. Officers spend thousands of hours sifting through potentially offensive posts and arrest 30 people a day. Among those collared were a man who ranted about immigration on Facebook and a couple who criticised their daughter’s primary school.
2025 May 15, “Europe’s free-speech problem”, in The Economist
It immediately occurred to him to sift her on the subject of Isabella and Theodore.
1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, Strawberry Hill Press

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From Middle English syften, from Old English siftan, from Proto-West Germanic *siftijan.