cut across

British  

verb

1. (intr) to be contrary to ordinary procedure or limitations

   opinion on European integration still cuts clean across party lines

2. to cross or traverse, making a shorter route

   she cut across the field quickly

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cut across Idioms  

1. Go beyond, transcend, as in The new regulations cut across class lines. This figurative use of cut across, which literally means “run through” or “intersect,” dates from the 1920s.

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Example Sentences

Ten pounds of sugar and two dozen clothespins felt like quite a load in that late afternoon heat, so I decided to travel cross-lots, which meant cutting across neighbors’ farms.

From Literature

“It’s cutting across every demographic and every partisan line that otherwise seems to divide the nation.”

From The Wall Street Journal

We weave around the kids in wheelchairs, then cut across the grass to the office.

From Literature

There were lots of other roads he could have cut across, but there he was, twenty minutes later, staring at Tom’s house from across the street.

From Literature

Results have an irritating way of cutting across reasoned opinion - not that Carrick shows any sign of getting swept along.

From BBC

Related Words

• cruise
• navigate
• pass over
• ply
• sail
• span
• traverse