To separate the wheat from the chaff, means to distinguish the valuable from the worthless. This phrase harks back to the ancient agricultural method of winnowing grain. Though today’s farmers use modern machinery, the idiom has stood the test of time, appearing in texts as varied as G.B. McCutcheon’s Anderson Crow (1920).
Related Terms
- Sift through: Meticulously go through a large amount to find the most important.
- Sort out the sheep from the goats: Identify the valuable from the inferior.
- Find the needle in the haystack: Locate something of value or importance amidst a large mass of irrelevant items.
Synonyms
- Discern
- Distinguish
- Filter
Antonyms
- Confound
- Muddle
- Mix-up
Humor-filled Quote
“Sometimes I sit and wonder whether it’s worth sifting through all the social media posts, or if I should just cautiously bathe in a sea of cat videos.”
Related Idioms
- Separate the men from the boys: To distinguish mature or experienced individuals from immature or inexperienced ones.
- Cut the wheat from the chaff: Another variation of the same concept.
Proverbs
- All that glitters is not gold: Not everything that looks precious or true turns out to be so.
- Don’t judge a book by its cover: Objects or people are not always as they appear on the surface.
Literature
- The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton: Ponyboy Curtis learns to separate who his true friends are from those who pretend.
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Atticus Finch teaches his children to judge people by their character rather than physical appearance.
Movies
- Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A young man from the slums finds value in his life experiences which others had dismissed.
- The Pursuit of Happyness (2006): The protagonist separates the harsh realities of life to strive towards his meaningful goal.
Inspirational Farewell
“As we winnow through life’s challenges and opportunities, may we all find the treasure amidst the trivial. Keep separating the wheat from the chaff, for only then can true value be revealed.”
### Which of these means to sort the valuable from the worthless?
- [x] Separate the wheat from the chaff
- [ ] Drink from the same cup
- [ ] Chip off the old block
- [ ] Burn the midnight oil
> **Explanation:** "Separate the wheat from the chaff" is the correct idiom for identifying valuable things from useless ones. The others have entirely different meanings.
### Which idiom refers to discerning quality?
- [ ] Lost in the sauce
- [x] Separate the men from the boys
- [ ] Pulling your leg
- [ ] Walking on eggshells
> **Explanation:** "Separate the men from the boys" is another idiom about discerning quality or maturity. The other options have different idiomatic meanings.
### True or False: "Finding the needle in the haystack" means identifying all the unnecessary items.
- [ ] True
- [x] False
> **Explanation:** False. "Finding the needle in the haystack" means identifying one valuable or necessary item among many unnecessary ones.
