1. to put (something) through a sieve to separate fine particles from coarse ones
2. to examine carefully in order to find something or to separate what is useful from what is not

Examples

• She sifts the flour before adding it to the cake batter.
• The archaeologist carefully sifts through the dirt looking for artifacts.
• He sifts the evidence to find clues about the crime.
• The baker sifts powdered sugar over the cookies.
• The detective sifts through hundreds of documents.
• She sifts sand to remove the larger rocks.
• The researcher sifts the data for meaningful patterns.