the action of putting a fine, loose, or powdery substance through a sieve so as to remove lumps

the process of examining something thoroughly to isolate the most important elements

the laborious sifting of evidence took its toll

put (a fine or loose substance) through a sieve so as to remove lumps or large particles

sift the flour into a large bowl

examine (something) thoroughly so as to isolate that which is most important

until we sift the evidence ourselves, we can't comment objectively

the fourth stage involves sifting through the data and evaluating it