cut it
Idioms-
Also, cut that . Stop, as in I won't stand for that—cut it! or If you don't cut that, I'll tell . [ Slang ; first half of 1800s] Also see cut it out .
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Manage, tolerate, as in I don't know how he can cut it . [ Slang ; c. 1900]
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Be effective, prove satisfactory, as in She's getting old and can no longer cut it . [Late 1900s] For a synonym see cut the mustard . Also see the subsequent entries beginning with cut it .
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.
The living room they’d planned wouldn’t cut it.
From MarketWatch • Jul. 6, 2026
Using Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant, you can take three months of work and cut it down to 25 minutes.
From Barron's • Jun. 18, 2026
An eight-story “vending machine” to store cars ordered online wasn’t going to cut it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 17, 2026
But the non-college-educated voters who have traditionally been his bedrock supporters are facing so much financial strain these days that his cultural affinities, even when they’re somewhat authentic, just don’t cut it.
From Salon • Jun. 16, 2026
“The person who cut it used it for bad medicine, but it did not work because my uncle burned the shirt immediately. That day, there were many flies near his hut.”
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
