How to Use wean in a Sentence

wean

verb
Definition of weannext
  • The calves are weaned at an early age.
  • Shock — or the desire to shock — is hard to wean off of.
    — Andy O'Connor, SPIN, 13 Jan. 2023
  • As the West tries to quit all things Russian, oil seems to be the hardest thing to wean itself off of.
    — Sophie Mellor, Fortune, 3 Mar. 2022
  • Bat colonies then must remain untouched until the pups are weaned and able to fly in the fall.
    — Kylie Martin, Detroit Free Press, 27 June 2023
  • Take things slow to wean your body off of added sugar and focus on one step at a time.
    — Stefani Sassos, Ms, Rdn, Cso, Good Housekeeping, 24 Feb. 2020
  • Pups of all ages, from newborns to the fully weaned, lay dead or dying at the high-tide line.
    — Emily Anthes, New York Times, 22 Apr. 2024
  • Biden’s plan aims to wean the country off of fossil fuels.
    — Politifact Staff, Detroit Free Press, 28 Aug. 2020
  • One fall, an ex-boyfriend convinced me to wean myself off Zoloft.
    — Bel Banta, Health.com, 31 Oct. 2019
  • Hammes said the IQAir report is even more reason for the world to wean off fossil fuel.
    — Rachel Ramirez, CNN, 22 Mar. 2022
  • In any case, in Smil’s view the world could take many decades to wean itself off fossil fuels.
    — Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 3 Oct. 2021
  • The essential premise, for those not weaned on the show, is straightforward.
    — Christopher Orr, The Atlantic, 19 Apr. 2020
  • Most babies are weaned from their moms within four months.
    — Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 29 Mar. 2024
  • And in the lion, the appearance of this tooth at ten months of age signals the end of the weaning period.
    — Katie Cottingham, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Aug. 2024
  • That may help explain why it’s been hard thus far for the state to wean itself off of natural gas.
    — Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Aug. 2023
  • But, despite its name, what the bill does to wean the U.S. off of carbon is much more important.
    — Eamon Barrett, Fortune, 3 Aug. 2022
  • The new dose controlled his blood glucose well, and so our new goal was to wean him fully off of insulin.
    — Ricardo Nuila, The New Yorker, 9 Mar. 2023
  • For those of us who are still wedded to meat, the question is how to wean ourselves off eating quite so much of it.
    — Bee Wilson, WSJ, 25 Mar. 2021
  • That is meant to help wean the country from fossil fuels.
    — Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY, 2 Feb. 2023
  • The attempt to wean herself off to save money nearly killed her.
    — USA Today, 6 Apr. 2021
  • Taylor Swift fans are the demographic that all the big hotel groups want to wean off Airbnb.
    — Sarah Turner, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024
  • The West is choking Russia with sanctions and vowing to wean itself from its oil and gas.
    — Ken Silverstein, Forbes, 28 Dec. 2022
  • But the tools existed to wean them out, and the balance of good versus bad tended to tip toward the former.
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 25 Aug. 2023
  • Baby opossums will stay with the mom until they are weaned after about four months.
    — Helena Wegner, Sacramento Bee, 29 Mar. 2024
  • To wean yourself off of soft drinks, said Dr. Jhin, start watering them down, which will cut down on the sugar and calories.
    — Anne Harding, Health, 9 Feb. 2024
  • The European Union began the process of weaning itself off Russian oil and gas.
    — Emily Rauhala, Washington Post, 7 Mar. 2024
  • And most of Europe managed to wean itself off Russian gas.
    — Constant Méheut, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2024
  • Despite this full-court press by the West, the real test will be whether Europe can wean itself off Russian gas.
    — Alexander Smith, NBC News, 6 Apr. 2022
  • There may be some folks who can wean themselves off these medications, but many will need to stay on at least a low dose.
    — Women's Health, 31 Jan. 2023
  • Any tips on how to avoid reverting to overreliance on the pacifier, or ideas on how to wean?
    — The Washington Post, 16 Sep. 2020
  • The best way to wean the economy off burning carbon for energy is to put a tax on carbon.
    — Los Angeles Times, 5 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wean.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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