What's the difference between hone and whet?

Hone


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To pine; to lament; to long.
  • (n.) A kind of swelling in the cheek.
  • (n.) A stone of a fine grit, or a slab, as of metal, covered with an abrading substance or powder, used for sharpening cutting instruments, and especially for setting razors; an oilstone.
  • (v. t.) To sharpen on, or with, a hone; to rub on a hone in order to sharpen; as, to hone a razor.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) And it will continue to refine and hone the operation: recruiting more volunteers, collecting more data, refining the methods of communication, using social media more than traditional media.
  • (2) Interview with Donald Hutera In other words "Maliphant's choreography slips under our guard, arouses our curiosity and hones our gaze, without us realising the force of its aim."
  • (3) However, the wise surgeon will continue to hone his surgical skills because the results of definitive, sure, and deliberate operative treatment of biliary tract stone disease remains the standard by which newer methods must be gauged.
  • (4) Drilling and polluting is what Shell does, and its corporate culture – honed in blackspots such as Nigeria and the Alberta tar sands – is still based on the old 19th-century explore-exploit-risk-reward capitalist business model that owes nothing to anything beyond the company.
  • (5) His links with Bach have been the subject of much speculation among the German media, which has also honed in on Bach’s trade links to the middle east in his business life and his past as an executive for Adidas and Siemens.
  • (6) David Hone, climate change adviser for oil company Shell, said policy makers needed to focus on delivering a clear carbon price, rather than setting targets for renewable energy.
  • (7) The music and the image had been honed down in the interim – the gear to the archetypal indie look and the music to the almost bubblegum sound which they ply today.
  • (8) These tactics, of low-visibility, close-quarters combat were honed while fighting the Russians.
  • (9) V&A museum project boosted by billionaire's donation Read more The studious reproduction of museum exhibits has long been a fundamental part of art education – a means of honing drawing skills and offering deeper ways of looking.
  • (10) He offers a simple, well-honed defence to convince both himself and his interrogators of his innocence: "I made it to protect the motherland.
  • (11) In Venezuela, for example, mannequins’ shape have changed in response to the exaggerated ideals of beauty promoted in a country where a plastic surgery-honed physique is the ideal.
  • (12) The latest revelation about the involvement of blacklisting on the Olympic site is contained in a letter sent to Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) chief executive Dennis Hone from Balfour Beatty construction chief executive Mike Peasland.
  • (13) Inside, athletes honed to physical perfection by years of hard work and drugs.
  • (14) 7.55am GMT Roux is honing in on Johnson’s notes from the night of Reeva Steenkamp’s death.
  • (15) Alongside the many other scientists, academics and educators on the advisory panel for Atmosphere, David Hone, Shell’s climate change adviser, has been consulted with regards to gallery content,” the spokesperson said.
  • (16) The HNE-1 cell line has been passaged more than 100 times and the uncloned HONE-1 cells more than 90 times.
  • (17) He caught sight of Marine Le Pen on a TV politics show in 2007, inveighing against the European Union in the pugnacious style she honed as a lawyer, warning the government to “stop taking the people for fools”.
  • (18) The key axis in this team is perhaps the Messi-Gago funnel, a relationship honed over shared international adolescence.
  • (19) Hollande's image as France's Monsieur Normal may have been honed through his contact with the Corrèziens, but it has become one of the foundation stones of his entire election campaign.
  • (20) They attribute the movement's interest in this issue to a desire to "improve its image, hone its legal strategy, and make new friends" among advocates for the disabled.

Whet


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To rub or on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening; to sharpen by attrition; as, to whet a knife.
  • (v. t.) To make sharp, keen, or eager; to excite; to stimulate; as, to whet the appetite or the courage.
  • (n.) The act of whetting.
  • (n.) That which whets or sharpens; esp., an appetizer.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In each instance, the interest in foreign models was whetted by a perceived social emergency: the heroin epidemic following World War II and the HIV epidemic of the last decade.
  • (2) I’ll be back soon with more build up and team news, but for now get your thoughts, predictions and pedantry coming in to @KidWeil or graham.parker.freelance@guardiannews.com and to further whet your appetite, here’s what happened when these sides last met, during the semi-final round of World Cup qualifiers last September - have we mentioned the Grind™ of Concacaf qualification yet?
  • (3) We'd found some great beaches but these had only whetted our appetites.
  • (4) I've had a good few chats with them and it's whetted my appetite.
  • (5) All the men in attendance wore purple gladioli in the pockets, a huge picture of Oscar Wilde presided over the ceremony, and before Julie entered the room in her cream wedding dress, the intro music Morrissey uses for his live shows whetted the appetite of the guests.
  • (6) Our interest in the question has been whetted by the finding to date of some eight possible examples of a founder effect in studies of twelve different tribes.
  • (7) I know scientists have got to whet the appetite for future publications, but this is just too tantalizing.
  • (8) He returns to our screens later this month in Drake Doremus's New York based drama Breathe In , so to whet your appetite we're taking a look at five of his best performances.
  • (9) Until February 14 and then February 28 with concessions, according to the old familiar routine, tossed to us to whet our appetite for hope and further waiting.
  • (10) Here's a little sample to whet your appetite … • Derek Malcolm on Kieslowski ahead of a film season celebrating his work in 2003.
  • (11) Cresswell also has a production company, Open Mike Productions, whose series of comedy shows starring Michael McIntyre, another Cresswell client, single-handedly whetted broadcasters' new-found appetite for standup.
  • (12) The data are discussed in the context of the effects of priming as a form of appetite whetting.
  • (13) While the emphasis is on medical and nursing libraries, other libraries of various types and sizes are included in order to whet the appetites of librarians visiting Boston in 1966.
  • (14) If anything, an accomplished debut only whetted the appetite for more.
  • (15) Managing a team again, albeit for an exhibition before the Fifa Congress, had whetted Mourinho’s appetite for a return to coaching.
  • (16) Finally, the public's appetite is whetted by the increasing number of heritable diseases whose molecular basis is being elucidated.
  • (17) 7.59pm BST I'm already two pies down and have whetted my appetite with the Hairy Bikers' Norway montage.
  • (18) Twofour's precursor to Educating Yorkshire, Educating Essex, appeared on C4 two years ago, and whetted the appetite for a sequel.
  • (19) From this point on, the great drama in his life and work consisted of his battle to frustrate journalists and would-be groupies, whose interest in his life had been whetted by what seemed to them – not without reason – the autobiographical element in his fiction.
  • (20) "This game is whetting my appetite, especially after Portugal's less than impressive performance earlier.