CUT DOWN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cut down mean? 

• CUT DOWN (verb)
  The verb CUT DOWN has 6 senses:

1. cut down on; make a reduction in

2. cut with sweeping strokes; as with an ax or machete

3. cause to come or go down

4. intercept (a player)

5. cut with a blade or mower

6. cause to fall by or as if by delivering a blow

  Familiarity information: CUT DOWN used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CUT DOWN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cut down on; make a reduction in

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

bring down; cut; cut back; cut down; reduce; trim; trim back; trim down

Context example:

The employer wants to cut back health benefits

Hypernyms (to "cut down" is one way to...):

decrease; lessen; minify (make smaller)

Verb group:

cut (have a reducing effect)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cut down"):

spill (reduce the pressure of wind on (a sail))

knock off; shave (cut the price of)

subtract (take off or away)

downsize ((of a company) reduce in size or number of employees)

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

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

detract; take away (take away a part from; diminish)

thin (make thin or thinner)

thin out (make sparse)

slash (cut drastically)

retrench (make a reduction, as in one's workforce)

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

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

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cut with sweeping strokes; as with an ax or machete

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

cut down; slash

Hypernyms (to "cut down" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They cut down the trees

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to come or go down

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

cut down; down; knock down; pull down; push down

Context example:

The mugger knocked down the old lady after she refused to hand over her wallet

Hypernyms (to "cut down" is one way to...):

strike (deliver a sharp blow, as with the hand, fist, or weapon)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cut down"):

submarine (bring down with a blow to the legs)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to cut down his opponent

Sense 4

Meaning:

Intercept (a player)

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

cut down; cut out

Hypernyms (to "cut down" is one way to...):

arrest; check; contain; hold back; stop; turn back (hold back, as of a danger or an enemy; check the expansion or influence of)

Domain category:

ball; baseball; baseball game (a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 5

Meaning:

Cut with a blade or mower

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

cut down; mow

Context example:

mow the grass

Hypernyms (to "cut down" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cut down"):

scythe (cut with a scythe)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They cut down rye in the field

Sense 6

Meaning:

Cause to fall by or as if by delivering a blow

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

cut down; drop; fell; strike down

Context example:

Lightning struck down the hikers

Hypernyms (to "cut down" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Cause:

come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cut down"):

chop down (cut down)

poleax; poleaxe (fell with or as if with a poleax)

log; lumber (cut lumber, as in woods and forests)

cut (fell by sawing; hew)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They cut down the trees

 Context examples 

Then, if I can't steer to any harbour with the wind that is, I shall cut down sails and lie by, and signal for help....

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

First, spruce trees were cut down and a three-room cabin constructed.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

So he had an axe brought; and they cut down the tree, but found no one upon it.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

So he cut down even the orthodox ration and tried to increase the day’s travel.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

I should like to see Sotherton before it is cut down, to see the place as it is now, in its old state; but I do not suppose I shall.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Also, the vitamin supplement could offer a way to cut down on the development of drug-resistant TB, a serious health threat.

(Vitamin C Might Shorten Tuberculosis Treatment Time, Study Indicates, VOA/Steve Baragona)

Cut down a third, there would be two thousand.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Bed nets treated with inexpensive pyrethroid insecticides are the main defense against biting, malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and they have significantly cut down on the number of cases.

(Malaria-carrying Mosquitoes Becoming Resistant to Bed Nets in Southern Africa, VOA)

There used to be a very old one over yonder but it was struck by lightning ten years ago, and we cut down the stump.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Gray, following close behind me, had cut down the big boatswain ere he had time to recover from his last blow.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)