Sieve
noun
A tool with many small holes, used to separate smaller particles from larger ones or liquids from solids.
She used a sieve to separate the flour from any lumps.
Often appears as...
- sieve through
- pass through a sieve
verb
To examine something thoroughly in order to find something specific.
The police sieved through the evidence for clues.
Often appears as...
- sieve through
- sieve out
noun
In sports, a player or team that is easy to defeat or that often concedes points or goals.
The team's defense was like a sieve, letting the opponent score at will.
Often appears as...
- defense like a sieve
- leak goals like a sieve
Usage tips
Informal, Disapproving
Colloquial
noun
Someone who cannot keep a secret.
Don't tell her anything confidential, she is a total sieve.
Often appears as...
- sieve of secrets
- leak information like a sieve
Usage tips
Informal, Disapproving
Colloquial
noun
A tool with many small holes, used to separate smaller particles from larger ones or liquids from solids.
She used a sieve to separate the flour from any lumps.
Often appears as...
- sieve through
- pass through a sieve
verb
To examine something thoroughly in order to find something specific.
The police sieved through the evidence for clues.
Often appears as...
- sieve through
- sieve out
noun
In sports, a player or team that is easy to defeat or that often concedes points or goals.
The team's defense was like a sieve, letting the opponent score at will.
Often appears as...
- defense like a sieve
- leak goals like a sieve
Usage tips
Informal, Disapproving
Colloquial
noun
Someone who cannot keep a secret.
Don't tell her anything confidential, she is a total sieve.
Often appears as...
- sieve of secrets
- leak information like a sieve
Usage tips
Informal, Disapproving
Colloquial
Definition 1 of 4
Pro Tip 1/3Kitchen Staple
Commonly used in cooking to separate ingredients like flour or powdered sugar.
Remember to run the powdered sugar through a sieve to avoid lumps in the frosting.
Pro Tip 2/3Not for Liquids
A sieve is not typically used for thin liquids; it's for thicker mixtures or dry ingredients.
To drain pasta, you’d better use a colander, not a sieve.
Pro Tip 3/3Metaphorical Use
Can be used to describe a process of careful selection or elimination.
They sieved the applications, selecting only the most promising candidates.
Pro Tip 1/3Kitchen Staple
Commonly used in cooking to separate ingredients like flour or powdered sugar.
Remember to run the powdered sugar through a sieve to avoid lumps in the frosting.
Pro Tip 2/3Not for Liquids
A sieve is not typically used for thin liquids; it's for thicker mixtures or dry ingredients.
To drain pasta, you’d better use a colander, not a sieve.
Pro Tip 3/3Metaphorical Use
Can be used to describe a process of careful selection or elimination.
They sieved the applications, selecting only the most promising candidates.
Pro Tip 1/3Kitchen Staple
Commonly used in cooking to separate ingredients like flour or powdered sugar.
Remember to run the powdered sugar through a sieve to avoid lumps in the frosting.
Pro Tip 2/3Not for Liquids
A sieve is not typically used for thin liquids; it's for thicker mixtures or dry ingredients.
To drain pasta, you’d better use a colander, not a sieve.
Pro Tip 3/3Metaphorical Use
Can be used to describe a process of careful selection or elimination.
They sieved the applications, selecting only the most promising candidates.
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Video examples
Making Potting Soil PIPE...
needs to get get a good start in life let's go ahead and sift these materials so that they're more manageable as you can see this mixture is becoming coarser and coarser so longer I'm sifting it and that's because the nice fine stuff is slipping through this sieve and I'm just
Video examples
How do your kidneys...
and accurate this internal sensing system is. To filter the blood, each nephron uses two powerful pieces of a blob-like structure called a glomerulus, and a long, stringy, straw-like tubule. The glomerulus works like a sieve, allowing only certain ingredients,
Video examples
Mallika Sarabhai: Dance...
that a clean cotton garment folded eight times over, can reduce bacteria up to 80 percent from water sieved through. So, why aren't governments blaring this on television? Why isn't it on every poster across the third world? Because there is no profit in it.
Video examples
Emma Teeling: The secret...
Well, I believe we just look at nature's experiments. So through natural selection, over time, mutations, variations that disrupt the function of a protein will not be tolerated over time. Evolution acts as a sieve. It sieves out the bad variation.
Video examples
Whale Shark PIPE National...
these dogs snapper eggs gets trapped in a sieve or rakers while water is expelled right back out through the gills but dog snapper eggs aren't the only caviar these big mouse loved wheat kubera gather in deep water and form a
Video examples
Whale Sharks' Unusual...
snapper eggs gets trapped in a sieve or rakers while water is expelled right back out through the Guild's but dog snapper eggs aren't the only caviar these big mouse loved wheat kubera gather in deep water and form a cyclone
Video examples
The healing power of...
women in my life sieved with anger at the sexism rampant in u.s. politics and culture I could feel the pain and rage especially in those of us who have experienced sexual violence I wanted to design an experience that
Video examples
The life cycle of a cup...
a truck takes them to a nearby mill with several specialized machines. An air blower re-sorts the seeds by density, an assortment of sieves filter them by size, and an optical scanner sorts by color.
Video examples
Life's third act - Jane...
cultural shift in the world and it will give an example to younger generations so that they can Rican sieve their lifespan thank you very much
Video examples
A Fisherman's Shark Tale...
first pots about about eight started steaming towards the islands and my sieve is a big thing breaching the water
Video examples
Making Potting Soil PIPE...
needs to get get a good start in life let's go ahead and sift these materials so that they're more manageable as you can see this mixture is becoming coarser and coarser so longer I'm sifting it and that's because the nice fine stuff is slipping through this sieve and I'm just
Video examples
How do your kidneys...
and accurate this internal sensing system is. To filter the blood, each nephron uses two powerful pieces of a blob-like structure called a glomerulus, and a long, stringy, straw-like tubule. The glomerulus works like a sieve, allowing only certain ingredients,
Video examples
Mallika Sarabhai: Dance...
that a clean cotton garment folded eight times over, can reduce bacteria up to 80 percent from water sieved through. So, why aren't governments blaring this on television? Why isn't it on every poster across the third world? Because there is no profit in it.
Video examples
Emma Teeling: The secret...
Well, I believe we just look at nature's experiments. So through natural selection, over time, mutations, variations that disrupt the function of a protein will not be tolerated over time. Evolution acts as a sieve. It sieves out the bad variation.
Video examples
Whale Shark PIPE National...
these dogs snapper eggs gets trapped in a sieve or rakers while water is expelled right back out through the gills but dog snapper eggs aren't the only caviar these big mouse loved wheat kubera gather in deep water and form a
Video examples
Whale Sharks' Unusual...
snapper eggs gets trapped in a sieve or rakers while water is expelled right back out through the Guild's but dog snapper eggs aren't the only caviar these big mouse loved wheat kubera gather in deep water and form a cyclone
Video examples
The healing power of...
women in my life sieved with anger at the sexism rampant in u.s. politics and culture I could feel the pain and rage especially in those of us who have experienced sexual violence I wanted to design an experience that
Video examples
The life cycle of a cup...
a truck takes them to a nearby mill with several specialized machines. An air blower re-sorts the seeds by density, an assortment of sieves filter them by size, and an optical scanner sorts by color.
Video examples
Life's third act - Jane...
cultural shift in the world and it will give an example to younger generations so that they can Rican sieve their lifespan thank you very much
Video examples
A Fisherman's Shark Tale...
first pots about about eight started steaming towards the islands and my sieve is a big thing breaching the water
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Madeleine M. Kunin
American Diplomat
When facing the public, politicians constantly filter their ideas through a political sieve. 'How will this affect the environmentalists, labor, management?' Sometimes the sieve gets so clogged by political taboos that no new ideas pass through.
Quote examples
Ben Sweetland
Author
The world is full of abundance and opportunity, but far too many people come to the fountain of life with a sieve instead of a tank car... a teaspoon instead of a steam shovel. They expect little and as a result they get little.
Quote examples
Andrew Taylor Still
American Scientist
You find that all men are successes or failures. Success is the stamp of truth. I will say all men who fail to place their feet on the dome of facts do so by not sieving all truth and throwing the faulty to one side.
Quote examples
Gary Bettman
American Businessman
I don't think taunting chants at players on the other side of the ice is intended to be sexist in the slightest. It's like when you call a goaltender a sieve, they chant that. Is that now inappropriate also?
Quote examples
Ryan Zinke
American Politician
We need to secure our southern border. Clearly, the southern border is now a nexus between immigration and national security. It's a sieve.
Quote examples
Gillian Jacobs
American Actress
Boy, you know, it's amazing how your brain can turn into a sieve, and you can literally forget episodes that you have shot.
Quote examples
George Lucas
American Director
Making a film is like putting out a fire with sieve. There are so many elements, and it gets so complicated.
Quote examples
Khalil Gibran
Lebanese Poet
They consider me to have sharp and penetrating vision because I see them through the mesh of a sieve.
Quote examples
Buddha
Leader
The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.
Quote examples
Lewis Carroll
English Author
His answer trickled through my head like water through a sieve.
Quote examples
Madeleine M. Kunin
American Diplomat
When facing the public, politicians constantly filter their ideas through a political sieve. 'How will this affect the environmentalists, labor, management?' Sometimes the sieve gets so clogged by political taboos that no new ideas pass through.
Quote examples
Ben Sweetland
Author
The world is full of abundance and opportunity, but far too many people come to the fountain of life with a sieve instead of a tank car... a teaspoon instead of a steam shovel. They expect little and as a result they get little.
Quote examples
Andrew Taylor Still
American Scientist
You find that all men are successes or failures. Success is the stamp of truth. I will say all men who fail to place their feet on the dome of facts do so by not sieving all truth and throwing the faulty to one side.
Quote examples
Gary Bettman
American Businessman
I don't think taunting chants at players on the other side of the ice is intended to be sexist in the slightest. It's like when you call a goaltender a sieve, they chant that. Is that now inappropriate also?
Quote examples
Ryan Zinke
American Politician
We need to secure our southern border. Clearly, the southern border is now a nexus between immigration and national security. It's a sieve.
Quote examples
Gillian Jacobs
American Actress
Boy, you know, it's amazing how your brain can turn into a sieve, and you can literally forget episodes that you have shot.
Quote examples
George Lucas
American Director
Making a film is like putting out a fire with sieve. There are so many elements, and it gets so complicated.
Quote examples
Khalil Gibran
Lebanese Poet
They consider me to have sharp and penetrating vision because I see them through the mesh of a sieve.
Quote examples
Buddha
Leader
The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.
Quote examples
Lewis Carroll
English Author
His answer trickled through my head like water through a sieve.
Example 1 of 10
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