How to Use hone in a Sentence

hone

verb
  • Give yourself time to hone your craft.
    — Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 27 Mar. 2026
  • There is little time left to hone the squad.
    — Paul Tenorio, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
  • If not, use a honing rod to smooth the edge.
    — Jesse Raub, Bon Appetit Magazine, 30 Mar. 2026
  • But first, what’s the deal with honing?
    — Jesse Raub, Bon Appetit Magazine, 30 Mar. 2026
  • This is where such deepfakes are trained and honed.
    — Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Some people just want a place to hone their green thumb.
    — Abby Wolner, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 June 2026
  • All the while, fine motor skills are honed, and busy minds are soothed.
    — Tanya Edwards, Parents, 4 Oct. 2023
  • That was four and a half years ago; since then, she’s been honing her craft.
    — Sakeina Syed, Vogue, 10 Nov. 2023
  • Your skills really were honed there to try to fix things.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 19 June 2026
  • Parrot’s tricks were clean; all eyes honed on the big screen, which showed the score.
    — Sean Gregory/bongpyeong, Time, 11 Feb. 2018
  • All these processes have been honed since then.
    — Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2025
  • But young talents need theaters like this one to hone their craft.
    — Chris Jones, chicagotribune.com, 22 Sep. 2020
  • Instead, the best way to tame a fear of failure is to hone courage.
    — Arthur C. Brooks, The Atlantic, 25 Feb. 2021
  • Give yourself a few years to build up these muscles and hone these traits.
    — Richard Thalheimer, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2022
  • Most would rather play a match than hone a skill through repetitive drilling.
    — David Segal, New York Times, 1 Nov. 2019
  • What does this say to kids who spent months honing their skills if anyone can join?
    — Spencer Whitney, San Francisco Chronicle, 19 May 2018
  • Helped hone her awareness of awareness.
    — Literary Hub, 2 Mar. 2026
  • Ashley isn’t that much brighter, but her instincts are well-honed to a fault.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 16 Apr. 2026
  • The camp became one of the biggest stages in the area for girls to hone their skills.
    — James Kay, chicagotribune.com, 5 Mar. 2022
  • Yet those who read can learn from authors who have taken decades to hone their craft and ideas.
    — Anne Sugar, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2024
  • But that hasn’t halted City from honing and adding.
    — Megan Feringa, New York Times, 12 Jan. 2026
  • That’s why keeping a metal honing rod in your kitchen is a good idea.
    — Emily Johnson, Bon Appetit Magazine, 18 Mar. 2026
  • This interactive skill might not seem to be one that is best honed alone.
    — The Economist, 18 Apr. 2020
  • His goal was to hone her gymnastics skills while keeping the sport fun.
    — New York Times, 29 July 2021
  • Hill is student of pitching, looking for any way to hone her craft.
    — Michael Osipoff, Post-Tribune, 2 June 2017
  • In the meantime, the teen appears to be honing her stunt skills.
    — Bailey Bujnosek, InStyle, 20 June 2026
  • Grier did, in fact, pass on a lot of projects to pursue work on the stage and hone her craft.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 8 Feb. 2023
  • Keep all cutting tools well-honed and sanitized for quick, clean cuts.
    — Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 16 Dec. 2025
  • Eleven has been training hard, honing her powers.
    — Lorraine Ali, Boston Herald, 30 Nov. 2025
  • For the past few months, the post office and its windows have been helping adults hone a trade.
    — Maggie Menderski, The Courier-Journal, 15 July 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hone.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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