clipped
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of clipped
Explanation
Use the adjective clipped for things that are cut very short — or for things that sound that way. "A clipped lawn is better for croquet," she announced in clipped tones. While you can use clipped where you'd use words like "shorn" or "trimmed," it's more common for this adjective to describe a particular way of speaking. If someone talks in a slightly irritated, very direct way, using sharp, short sounds, their speech is clipped. You can hear the difference between your math teacher's laid back "Hey kids, have a seat!" and your gym teacher's clipped command, "Take a knee. Now."
Vocabulary lists containing clipped
"Caged Bird" by Maya Angelou
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Novel Study: Fences, Act 2
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Two Roads
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
From social media posts clipped from livestreamed events with the astronauts to an extraordinary portfolio of celestial photographs, viewers caught an eyeful of Artemis II.
From Barron's • Apr. 11, 2026
But even if the opinion is written in the clipped vocabulary of habeas review, the stakes are larger than that language suggests.
From Slate • Apr. 10, 2026
In footage shared earlier this week, Woods told officers that he was briefly distracted by his phone before he clipped the trailer of a vehicle in front of him.
From Salon • Apr. 2, 2026
But after the statistic was clipped up and shared all over social media, venues in the city say the stats could be painting a false picture of the health of Newcastle's local scene.
From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026
She clipped one end to Moss’s collar, then snaked the cord behind him and put the transmitter in his back pocket.
From "Anger Is a Gift" by Mark Oshiro
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
