cutback
a reduction in rate, quantity, etc.: a cutback in production.
a return in the course of a story, motion picture, etc., to earlier events.
Football. a play in which the ball-carrier abruptly reverses direction, especially by starting to make an end run and then turning suddenly to run toward the middle of the line.
a maneuver in surfing of heading the surfboard back toward a wave's crest.
Origin of cutback
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use cutback in a sentence
She also could cut back to a 40-hour week and be at home with her son more often.
Care Providers Fight for $15 and a Union | Jasmin Almodovar, Shirley Thompson | December 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe Volcker Rule, a component of the far-reaching Dodd-Frank law, required large banks to cut back on proprietary trading.
The Incredible 'Wussiness' Of The Fed Vs Goldman Sachs—Caught On Tape | Daniel Gross | September 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTChipotle noted in a recent investor letter that they might cut back on their signature guacamole because of avocado scarcity.
America’s Next Agricultural Revolution Will Happen Indoors | Sarah Kunst | April 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn 2012, some states, including Florida, cut back on early voting, with predictably unsettling results.
A Bipartisan Path to Fixing America’s Broken Elections | Michael Waldman | January 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThis implicitly rebukes North Carolina as it moves to cut back on early balloting as part of its wildly controversial plan.
A Bipartisan Path to Fixing America’s Broken Elections | Michael Waldman | January 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Mr. Stallings, may I cut back some of the Diamond D animals in the mixed herd?
The Pony Rider Boys in Texas | Frank Gee PatchinMany of these growers now cut back their seedlings to bare limbs, and grafted the new orange on these branches.
Stories of California | Ella M. SextonEvery day he planted new flowers, cut back rough bushes, and coaxed out graceful ones.
Freckles | Gene Stratton-PorterI cut back to Carrie Johnstone, the footage of her sitting at the board table with Rooney, laughing.
Little Brother | Cory DoctorowAnd there's the college over there; we will go home that way, and find out a short cut back to Elm Fields.
Salome | Emma Marshall
British Dictionary definitions for cutback
/ (ˈkʌtˌbæk) /
a decrease or reduction
another word (esp US) for flashback
(tr) to shorten by cutting off the end; prune
(when intr, foll by on) to reduce or make a reduction (in)
(intr) mainly US (in films) to show an event that took place earlier in the narrative; flash back
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with cutback
Shorten by cutting, prune, as in It's time we cut back these bushes. [1860s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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