cut back

/kət bæk/

/kət bæk/

Other forms: cutting back; cuts back

To cut back is to trim something that's growing, like your front lawn or the crazy vines on the side of your house. You can even cut back on your spending, if it's out of control.

You can cut back your rose bush, and you can also cut back on the amount of money you spend, or reduce it. When someone curbs or restricts, it cuts back: "My coach cut back on the amount of time I spend on the field." The verb cut probably comes from a Germanic root also meaning "to cut," and it's related to both the Swedish kuta and the Old Norse kuti, both meaning "knife."

Definitions of cut back

1. verb

   cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of
   synonyms: clip, crop, dress, lop, prune, snip, trim

   types:

   shear

   cut with shears

   poll, pollard

   convert into a pollard

   pinch, top

   cut the top off

   disbud

   thin out buds to improve the quality of the remaining flowers

   tail

   remove the stalk of fruits or berries

   type of:

   thin out

   make sparse
2. verb

   cut down on; make a reduction in
   synonyms: bring down, cut, cut down, reduce, trim, trim back, trim down

   cut

   have a reducing effect

   types:

   shorten

   make shorter than originally intended; reduce or retrench in length or duration

   spill

   reduce the pressure of wind on (a sail)

   quench

   reduce the degree of (luminescence or phosphorescence) in (excited molecules or a material) by adding a suitable substance

   retrench

   make a reduction, as in one's workforce

   slash

   cut drastically

   thin out

   make sparse

   thin

   make thin or thinner

   detract, take away

   take away a part from; diminish

   deflate

   reduce or cut back the amount or availability of, creating a decline in value or prices

   inflate

   increase the amount or availability of, creating a rise in value

   downsize

   reduce in size or number

   subduct, subtract

   take off or away

   knock off, shave

   cut the price of

   foreshorten

   shorten lines in a drawing so as to create an illusion of depth

   clip, curtail, cut short

   terminate or abbreviate before its intended or proper end or its full extent

   syncopate

   omit a sound or letter in a word

   cut short, truncate

   make shorter as if by cutting off

   draw

   reduce the diameter of (a wire or metal rod) by pulling it through a die

   clip, crop, dress, lop, prune, snip, trim

   cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of

   mark down

   reduce the price of

   type of:

   decrease, lessen, minify

   make smaller
3. verb

   place restrictions on
   synonyms: curb, curtail, restrict

   types:

   abridge

   lessen, diminish, or curtail

   immobilise, immobilize

   cause to be unable to move

   paralyse, paralyze

   cause to be paralyzed and immobile

   stun, stupefy, zonk

   make senseless or dizzy by or as if by a blow

   type of:

   circumscribe, confine, limit

   restrict or confine
4. verb

   return in time
   “the film cut back to an earlier event in the story”

   synonyms: flash back

   type of:

   return

   go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before