Synonyms: Cut

From the sharpness of a knife to the clarity of a break in the clouds, this list explores separation and precision, offering words for those clean slices and distinct divisions.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. abbreviate
    shorten
    “O for the P,” as Farmer would eventually abbreviate the term, was a simple concept. Mountains Beyond Mountains
  2. abridge
    reduce in scope while retaining essential elements
    “Listen, you guys published a book just after World War I. Do you think it might be a good idea for me to abridge it and we’d republish it now?” The Princess Bride
  3. bisect
    cut in half or cut in two
    He climbed out and saw that his Ford had practically bisected the sedan, severed it. A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age
  4. carve
    cut to pieces
    More symbols, like those painted on the sides of the ships, were carved into the ground. Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky
  5. chisel
    carve with an edge tool
    Disheartened, I made my way out into the workshop and was greeted by the sounds of a hundred hands busily chiseling wood, chipping stone, and hammering metal. The Name of the Wind
  6. cleave
    separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument
    She glanced out of the window in time to see her father cleave a log into three separate pieces, which he then heaved onto a growing woodpile. Stella by Starlight
  7. clip
    sever or remove by pinching or snipping
    I start a small fire in the outdoor fireplace, wrap the primrose and artichoke in maple leaves, and clip some young shoots of a pokeweed. On the Far Side of the Mountain
  8. condense
    make more concise
    The men soon discovered how difficult it was to condense a novel into sixty pages, the average script length for a one-hour program. Spooked!
  9. crop
    cut short
    Then Miss Love trimmed the mustache into a pencil-thin line and cropped his hair down from a mane to short as mine. Cold Sassy Tree
  10. cube
    cut into block-like shapes
    The first recipe I located, now lost to the sands of time, involved peeling and cubing the squash. The Seattle Times
  11. decrease
    lessen in size, extent, or range
    The heart in space gets lazy, muscles decrease in size, and bones lose some of their calcium. Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story
  12. delete
    cut or eliminate
    “She must’ve found them on Dad’s camera and downloaded them before I deleted them all.” I'll Give You the Sun
  13. dice
    cut into cubes
    I chopped and diced and minced, and then a thought started up in my head. Girls Like Us
  14. diminish
    decrease in size, extent, or range
    I believe that once her pain diminishes, she will desire to eat again and then recover her strength. Ophelia
  15. discontinue
    put an end to a state or an activity
    On October 14, Hitler had abruptly quit the League of Nations and discontinued Germany’s ongoing disarmament talks with France and her allies. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
  16. discount
    give a reduction in price on
    He’d been talked into returning this year by Hall, who felt sorry that Hansen had been denied the summit and had significantly discounted Hansen’s fee to entice him to give it another try. Into Thin Air
  17. dissever
    separate into parts or portions
    For though he was the enemy of my race and my country, yet I loved him with such a love that nothing could dissever my heart from him. Tynan, Katharine
  18. divide
    separate into parts or portions
    Every morning at seven, my father gathered his sons, divided them into teams and sent them out to tackle the tasks of the day. Educated
  19. dock
    remove or shorten the tail of an animal
    This word has given the verb “to dock,” to cut short, curtail, especially used of the shortening of an animal’s tail by severing one or more of the vertebrae. Encyclopaedia Britannica
  20. downsize
    reduce in magnitude or number
    “I’m even downsizing my bed so that you can fit yours in. We picked one out today.” Saints and Misfits
  21. engrave
    carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface
    Still weak from her tropical illness and pressed for time, she was forced to hire others to etch and engrave most of the copper plates based on her paintings. The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science
  22. etch
    carve or cut a design or letters into
    She also learned how to etch her plates, adding delicacy to her designs. The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science
  23. excise
    remove by cutting
    Moss wished he could reach inside of his brain and excise the part of it that tormented him. Anger Is a Gift
  24. gash
    cut open
    I swung the sword and gashed the thief’s shoulder. Fever 1793
  25. graze
    break the skin by scraping
    High above the Grand Canal, Prosper fell and grazed his knee. The Thief Lord
  26. incise
    make a depression in by carving or cutting
    Min and the other potters continued throwing pots, incising them with designs, glazing, firing, rejecting some vessels and keeping others. A Single Shard
  27. interrupt
    make a break in
    The hackers interrupted customer service and jammed websites. New York Times
  28. lacerate
    cut or tear irregularly
    Jaguars are elusive animals that, if threatened, can lacerate a skull with a single bite. New York Times
  29. lance
    open by piercing with a surgeon's knife
    I saw a better doctor the day I arrived in Whitehorse; gently holding my head with one hand, she lanced the infection. The Guardian
  30. lessen
    decrease in size, extent, or range
    Once the main force of the fire began to lessen, Claire peeked out. The Great Fire
  31. lop
    cut off from a whole
    “First you gotta go in and lop off the branches. Then you chop down the trunk.” Middlesex: A Novel
  32. mince
    cut into small pieces
    I chopped and diced and minced, and then a thought started up in my head. Girls Like Us
  33. notch
    make a small cut into
    I pulled in the line and wrapped it on a stick notched at each end. A Farewell To Arms
  34. pare
    strip the skin off
    She cleaned the seeds out of the center and cut the pumpkin into long slices, from which she pared the rind. Little House in the Big Woods
  35. pierce
    cut or make a way through
    No sun pierced the low clouded sky, and Gollum seemed anxious to continue the journey at once. The Two Towers
  36. prick
    make a small hole into, as with a needle or a thorn
    I keep pricking myself and have to be careful not to get blood on the cloth. Orphan Train
  37. prune
    cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of
    Ishmael, one long afternoon, helped Dale Papineau—self-appointed caretaker for half a dozen summer families—prune back the alder branches overarching their long drive. Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel
  38. reduce
    cut down on
    He reduced his fat intake and then his carbohydrates. Washington Post
  39. remove
    dispose of
    Because after the gold was removed from my body, I felt lighter, more free. The Joy Luck Club
  40. retrench
    make a reduction, as in one's workforce
    The first thing to be done was to retrench the expenses. Hibbert, Francis Aiden
  41. score
    make small marks into the surface of
    Because Hevea stores rubber just under the bark, growers must extract the tree’s rubber by scoring the tree by hand and allowing the rubber to drip into a bucket. Scientific American
  42. scratch
    cut, scrape, or wear away the surface of
    Primarily, to scarify is to cut or scratch marks into the surface of something. Woe Is I
  43. sever
    cut off from a whole
    His gold blade cut through the tendrils with no problem, but faster than he could sever them, more took their place. The Mark of Athena
  44. shear
    cut with large scissors with strong blades
    Then she sheared off the tops of the hedge that borders Phoebe’s yard. Walk Two Moons
  45. suspend
    make inoperative or stop
    When rival thieves took up the racket, he suspended the stealing until the culprits were caught and the bakery owners dropped their guard. Unbroken
  46. trim
    remove the edges from and cut down to the desired size
    I’d chop down a tree, trim off the branches as far up as I wanted, then cut away the rest of the top. Old Yeller
  47. truncate
    make shorter as if by cutting off
    He pointed out that it was relatively easy to pronounce, though there was the danger that Americans, obsessed with abbreviation, would truncate it to Nick. The Namesake
  48. whittle
    cut small bits or pare shavings from
    He’s trying to whittle something using a pocketknife. A Heart in a Body in the World
Created on Wed Apr 10 13:20:16 EDT 2024 (updated Fri May 10 12:02:32 EDT 2024)

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