Synonyms of trimming

trimming 1 of 2

noun

ˈtri-miŋ 

as in defeat

failure to win a contest

our football team suffered a pretty severe trimming

Synonyms & Similar Words

• defeat
• beating
• loss
• whipping
• setback
• licking
• overthrow
• plastering
• rout
• drubbing
• failure
• trouncing
• lump
• collapse
• shellacking
• upset
• flop
• fiasco
• debacle
• washout
• shutout
• lurch
• nonsuccess
• whitewash
• fizzle

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• success
• victory
• triumph
• win
• achievement
• accomplishment
• sweep
• blowout
• runaway
• landslide
• romp
• cakewalk
• walkaway
• walkover

trimming

2 of 2

verb

present participle of trim

1

as in mastering

to achieve a victory over

a speed skater who consistently trimmed all his competition

Synonyms & Similar Words

• mastering
• defeating
• overcoming
• taking
• getting
• beating
• dispatching
• stopping
• conquering
• subduing
• licking
• surmounting
• upending
• prevailing (over)
• succeeding
• finishing
• overmatching
• winning (against)
• triumphing (over)
• getting around
• getting the better of
• overbearing
• burying
• doing down
• worsting
• besting
• sweeping
• slaughtering
• crushing
• flattening
• whipping
• capping
• scoring
• exceeding
• skunking
• routing
• knocking for a loop
• surpassing
• skinning
• topping
• waxing
• overwhelming
• upsetting
• annihilating
• clobbering
• blowing out
• creaming
• edging (out)
• thrashing
• excelling
• flourishing
• bombing
• breaking
• smoking
• pipping
• blowing away
• nosing out
• subjugating
• overthrowing
• vanquishing
• trouncing
• walloping
• shellacking
• knocking over
• drubbing
• overpowering
• unseating
• transcending
• outdoing
• bettering
• eclipsing
• knocking off
• outshining
• outstripping
• outdistancing
• snowing under
• overtopping
• acing (out)
• outfighting

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• losing (to)
• falling
• going down
• giving up
• folding
• failing
• collapsing
• going under
• flopping
• washing out
• flunking

2

as in whipping

to defeat by a large margin

they trimmed our team by 40 points

Synonyms & Similar Words

• whipping
• burying
• overcoming
• flattening
• dusting
• routing
• throwing
• pasting
• bombing
• mastering
• waxing
• upsetting
• skinning
• smothering
• beating
• annihilating
• topping
• taking
• creaming
• thrashing
• smoking
• blowing away
• sweeping
• clobbering
• whopping
• walloping
• tromping
• scoring
• exceeding
• capping
• destroying
• conquering
• whomping
• dispatching
• succeeding
• overwhelming
• surpassing
• eating alive
• trouncing
• licking
• crushing
• finishing
• running circles around
• beating the pants off
• shellacking
• snowing under
• drubbing
• whupping
• slaughtering
• subduing
• wiping the floor with
• skunking
• surmounting
• subjugating
• prevailing (over)
• overthrowing
• vanquishing
• winning (against)
• triumphing (over)
• upending
• knocking over
• overpowering
• bettering
• outdoing
• transcending
• eclipsing
• knocking off
• outshining
• outstripping
• hurdling
• besting
• flourishing
• overmatching
• excelling
• outdistancing
• overtopping
• edging (out)
• breaking
• overbearing
• worsting
• sinking
• pipping
• acing (out)
• outfighting
• doing in
• nosing out

3

as in shaving

to make (something) shorter or smaller with the use of a cutting instrument

trimmed her bangs

Synonyms & Similar Words

• shaving
• cutting
• clipping
• pruning
• mowing
• paring
• snipping
• cropping
• shearing
• bobbing
• cutting back
• docking
• nipping
• polling
• lopping (off)
• whittling
• shortening
• pinching
• manicuring
• curtailing
• skiving
• stumping

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• extending
• lengthening
• elongating

4

as in decorating

to make more attractive by adding something that is beautiful or becoming

trim a tree for Christmas

Synonyms & Similar Words

• decorating
• adorning
• draping
• ornamenting
• dressing
• embellishing
• garnishing
• beautifying
• enriching
• decking
• painting
• embossing
• festooning
• arraying
• doing
• gussying up
• bedecking
• gracing
• blazoning
• doing up
• prettying (up)
• dolling up
• fancifying
• caparisoning
• bedizening
• emblazing
• trapping
• embroidering
• fancying up
• glitzing (up)
• accessorizing
• brightening
• frilling
• freshening
• braiding
• chasing
• filleting
• hanging
• ribboning
• tricking (out)
• smartening
• fringing
• appliquéing
• feathering
• sprucing (up)
• figuring
• garlanding
• jeweling
• dressing up
• swagging
• flouncing
• redoing
• gilding
• bossing
• lacing
• wreathing
• redecorating
• filigreeing
• pearling
• diamonding
• impearling
• gemming
• furbelowing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• spoiling
• disfiguring
• streamlining
• simplifying
• marring
• stripping
• defacing
• scarring
• displaying
• revealing
• dismantling
• exposing
• uncovering
• denuding
• blemishing
• baring
• divesting
• uglifying

5

as in organizing

to make neat

trimmed the shrubbery in order to enhance the house's curb appeal

Synonyms & Similar Words

• organizing
• arranging
• neatening
• straightening (up or out)
• disposing
• tidying (up)
• classifying
• sprucing (up)
• ordering
• redding (up or out)
• systematizing
• picking up
• codifying
• ranging
• arraying
• marshaling
• drawing up

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• shuffling
• mixing (up)
• disrupting
• tumbling
• scrambling
• mussing
• upsetting
• muddling
• disarranging
• disturbing
• tousling
• disorganizing
• rumpling
• disordering
• messing (up)
• jumbling
• discomposing
• disheveling
• disarraying

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of trimming

Noun

Inside, polished wooden floors and marble trimmings set the tone, which is serious and stately. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Sep. 2026

Lighter, ‘tidy up’ trimming is sometimes appropriate in the summer. — Gemma Johnstone, The Spruce, 4 Sep. 2026

Verb

Workers were still trimming the turf at Maracana Stadium on Saturday, less than 30 hours before the NFL's first game in Rio de Janeiro between the Dallas Cowboys and the Baltimore Ravens. — ABC News, 26 Sep. 2026

In the most recent two years, the Democrat believed the county was cutting into bone rather than trimming fat. — Rachel Royster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 Sep. 2026