SIEVE Synonyms: 15 Similar and Opposite Words

sieve

verb

Definition of sieve

as in to filter

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of sieve After sufficient brewing time, pour the tea into the pitcher through a fine mesh filter or sieve to remove the loose leaves or take out and throw out the whole tea bags. — Bestreviews, Mercury News, 19 June 2026 Creativity is not just some commodity, trapped in the imagination, that can be tapped and sieved by technology. — John Semley, Wired News, 1 Apr. 2026 The mixture is then sieved to produce a smooth, drinkable liquid. — Sarah Bence, Verywell Health, 29 Jan. 2026 The combine then automatically calibrates variables like rotor speed, fan speed and sieve clearances to produce those outcomes. — Michael L. Millenson, Forbes.com, 13 Jan. 2026 The light here is dazzling, even more so when sieved through lime and olive leaves and wooden canopies to dance on walls, terracotta tables, and guests’ faces. — Rosalyn Wikeley, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Jan. 2026 Traitors is about the gullible and the skeptical working together to sieve the fraudulent from the truthful, an amalgamated nightmare of village idiots locking themselves in the stocks and pelting each other with rotten fruit. — Raven Smith, Vogue, 9 Jan. 2026 These recordings function like a kind of filter or sieve, retaining one part of us while the rest is allowed to drain away. — Rachel Cusk, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2025 Our students have spent hundreds of hours focusing on the fossils retrieved after sieving. — Kristi Curry Rogers, Scientific American, 1 Feb. 2024

Recent Examples of Synonyms for sieve

Verb

Beirut's private-press scene has little in common with the studio culture of ’80s Tokyo, where an abundance of resources and technology filtered the same foreign influences into something more perfect and polished.

— Shy Clara Thompson, Pitchfork, 23 Oct. 2026
Inside Clarify Clinic’s proprietary centrifuge machine, which is designed to filter contaminants out of human blood.

— Tracy Achonwa, Vogue, 23 Oct. 2026

Definition of filter

Verb

Their project, called Black Hole Hunters, is looking for volunteers with a computer and a few spare minutes to sift through troves of data gathered by a NASA space telescope.

— Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 18 Oct. 2026
Lowen must move into the Crawford family’s foreboding Vermont lake house to flirt with her husband sift through Verity’s notes and embody her voice.

— Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of sift

Verb

City of Hope emphasized how important the event was both for those who have been touched by cancer and those who need to screen for it.

— Adam Harrington, CBS News, 22 Oct. 2026
Texas films and ‘The Debut’ Of the nearly 100 films screening at the festival, about 30% of them are Texas-made.

— Brayden Garcia October 22, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Oct. 2026

Definition of screen

Verb

SpaceX’s temporary throttling of the satellite service disrupted Ukrainian drone missions and air defenses, raising questions about who ordered the changes and straining ties with Washington.

— Derek Gatopoulos, Los Angeles Times, 25 Oct. 2026
If either connection is strained by distance or wall interference, the experience suffers.

— Joe Osborne, PC Magazine, 24 Oct. 2026

Definition of strain

Browse Nearby Words

siestas

sieve

sieved

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Style

“Sieve.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sieve. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of sieve

verb

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