whittle down to size
Pare to manageable
To whittle down to size is to reduce something or someone to a more manageable or appropriate scale, usually through gradual effort.
The phrase combines the patient, incremental work of whittling wood with the idiom "cut down to size," which means to humble someone inflated by ego: The audit whittled the budget down to size.
A few tough losses whittled her confidence down to size.
- pruneDesiccated stone fruit
- chip awayDiminish through persistent effort
- chiselEdged carving implement
- shaveCut hair close
- trimRemove unwanted edges
chip away at · shave off · carve · pare · streamline · reduce · curtail · scale back · diminish · minimize · shrink · chastise · humble · cut back · deflate · contraction · refine · abridge
whittle down to sizepuff up
Inflate or swell
build up · big up · put on a pedestal · aggrandize · hype up
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