cut short

Idioms  

1. Abbreviate, stop abruptly, as in The thunderstorm cut short our picnic, or She cut her short, saying she'd already heard the story of their breakup. Shakespeare used this term to mean “put a sudden end to someone's life”: “Rather than bloody war shall cut them short” (2 Henry VI, 4:4), a less common usage today. The broader usage dates from the mid-1600s.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cut short

South Korea's annual joint military drills with the US will be cut short by six days at the request of Washington, its defence ministry has announced.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Demand for change is "enormous", he said, pointing to his conversations with Russians before his campaign was cut short.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

Although his rock career was cut short — he didn’t have the chops to play metal songs on bass — it flipped a switch for a young Díaz.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

Together, they form a rich yet incomplete portrait of an existence cut short, which McElwee hopes to broaden by weaving in meaning from before and after Adrian’s life, all captured by McElwee’s omnipresent camera.

From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026

Even the wolves found this conversation interesting, as you might well imagine, but the discussion was cut short by a hooting, unnatural sound, coming from a far distance.

From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood

Related Words

• abort
• break off
• curtail
• halt
• hinder
• interrupt
• postpone
• quit
• shorten
• terminate