shortcut

American  

[shawrt-kuht] / ˈʃɔrtˌkʌt /

noun

shortcuts plural

1. a shorter or quicker way.

2. a method, procedure, policy, etc., that reduces the time or energy needed to accomplish something.

3. Computers.

   1. a link to a software application, file, or website, usually represented as a graphical icon that can be clicked on to quickly access or open it.

      You can create a desktop shortcut to a web page you've visited.

   2. Also called keyboard shortcut.  hotkey.

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adjective

1. constituting or providing a shorter or quicker way.

   shortcut methods.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• shortcutting
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• shortcuts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of shortcut

First recorded in 1560–70; short + cut

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shortcut shortcuts

Akil is part of a growing wave of people looking for a shortcut to private-equity riches.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

When students understand the value of the process, they’re less likely to look for an easy shortcut like AI.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026

He was later fined for taking a shortcut home by leaving Paisley with his family rather than travelling on the team bus back to Leith.

From BBC ● Jun. 11, 2026

"It's basically a shortcut," explains Adrian Bayer a cosmologist at the Flatiron Institute and Princeton University, co-author of the study.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 11, 2026

I knew every shortcut you could possibly imagine.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah

Somewhere along the way, I suppose I, too, absorbed the idea that there were shortcuts worth sharing and shortcuts better left unmentioned.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026

Even as the pace has sharply accelerated, Tori Shivanandan, President and COO of Radiant Nuclear, does not want regulatory shortcuts.

From Barron's ● Jun. 28, 2026

It treats historical analogies not as rhetorical shortcuts but as evidentiary claims that must withstand scrutiny.

From Slate ● Jun. 26, 2026

He added that diets involving “maxxing” are often shortcuts made in place of more balanced habits.

From MarketWatch ● May 10, 2026

He knows Washington’s back alleys and shortcuts and will guide Powell, who knows little about the city, to safety.

From "Lincoln's Last Days: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever" by Bill O'Reilly