The act of separating grain from chaff.

synonyms: winnow, winnowing.

Roget 461: inquiry; request etc. 765; search, research, quest, pursuit etc. 622.    examination, review, scrutiny, investigation, indagation^†; perquisition^†, perscrutation^†, pervestigation^†; inquest, inquisition; exploration; exploitation, ventilation.    sifting; calculation, analysis, dissection, resolution, induction; Baconian method^†.    strict inquiry, close inquiry, searching inquiry, exhaustive inquiry; narrow search, strict search; study etc. (consideration) 451.    scire facias [Lat.], ad referendum; trial.    questioning etc. v.; interrogation, interrogatory; interpellation; challenge, examination, cross-examination, catechism; feeler, Socratic method, zetetic philosophy^†; leading question; discussion etc. (reasoning) 476.    reconnoitering, reconnaissance; prying etc. v.; espionage, espionnage [Fr.]; domiciliary visit, peep behind the curtain; lantern of Diogenes.    question, query, problem, desideratum, point to be solved, porism^†; subject of inquiry, field of inquiry, subject of controversy; point in dispute, matter in dispute; moot point; issue, question at issue; bone of contention etc. (discord) 713; plain question, fair question, open question; enigma etc. (secret) 533; knotty point etc. (difficulty) 704; quodlibet; threshold of an inquiry.    [person who questions] inquirer, investigator, inquisitor, inspector, querist^†, examiner, catechist; scrutator scrutineer scrutinizer^†; analyst; quidnunc [Lat.] etc. (curiosity) 455.    ... show more

Roget 42: simpleness etc. adj.; purity, homogeneity.    elimination; sifting etc. v.; purification etc. (cleanness) 652.   

Polish: przesiew, odsiew