skim sb/sth off
— phrasal verb with skim uk/skɪm/us/skɪm/verb -mm-
to choose the best people or things from a group:
They're worried the new school will skim off the brightest students, leaving the public school to teach the problem kids.
to secretly take money that is in your care or that belongs to an organization or business you work for :
He got caught skimming off funds from the charity.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Taking and choosing
- accord
- adopt
- adopted
- adoption
- appoint
- bags I... idiom
- dip
- easy option
- either-or
- elect
- empanel
- go off with sth
- have/keep your options open idiom
- select
- selection
- selective
- selector
- self-selected
- single sb/sth out
- slate
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