From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishwhittle away phrasal verbREDUCEto gradually reduce the amount or effectiveness of something, especially something that you think should not be reducedwhittle something ↔ away The museum is worried that government funding will be whittled away. at Congress is whittling away at our freedom of speech. → whittle→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
whittle away• Ever since Donald had taken over the management of the company, Robert's role had been gradually whittled away.• Congress is whittling away at our civil liberties.• Under government ownership, the grazing land was gradually whittled away by privately owned farms.• Lawmakers have gradually whittled the programs funding away over the last few years.• Inflation has been whittling away the value of state pensions for the last fifteen years.whittle at• Congress is whittling away at our freedom of speech.• They are behind federal agencies in other parts of the country and overseas in whittling away at piles of backlogged work.• And scurvy all the while whittled away at the crew, killing six to ten men every day. 