culling

Definitions

The process of selecting and removing weak, undesirable, or surplus individuals from a group, typically animals.

The act of reducing the size of a population by killing or removing specific members.

The selective gathering or collection of items, often to remove those that are inferior or unnecessary.

Examples

The wildlife department authorized the culling of the deer population to prevent overgrazing.

The manager spent the afternoon culling outdated files from the company database.

Strict culling of the herd was necessary to stop the spread of the contagious disease.

Synonyms

weeding thinning selecting removing discarding harvesting pruning

Antonyms

adding preserving protecting saving nurturing increasing gathering